cones 
RUBIACEHR. X. Crncuowna. 
respecting the Countess Chinchon, vice-queen of Peru, is pro- 
bably still more doubtful than it is generally supposed to be. 
There certainly was a Count Chinchon, Don Geronimo Fernandez 
de Cabrera Bobadella y Mendoza, who was Viceroy of Lima 
from 1629 to 1629. It is very probable that his wife, after her 
return to Spain in 1640, was the first to introduce the Cinchdna 
bark to Europe. The name of Pulvis Committissa appears even 
more ancient than that of Pulvis Jesuiticus or Pulvis patrum. 
But I do not believe that the Corregidor of Loxa, Don Juan 
Lopez de Cannizares, who is said to have cured the Countess of 
ague, received this remedy from the Indians. In Loxa there is 
no tradition whatever of this kind, nor is it probable that the 
discovery of the medicinal power of the Cinchona belongs to 
the primitive natives of America; if it is also considered that 
these natives (like the Hindoos) adhere with unalterable pertina- 
city to their customs, to their food, and to their nostrums; and 
that notwithstanding all this the use of the Cinchona bark is 
entirely unknown to them in Loxa, Guamcabamba, and far 
around. In the deep and hot valleys of the mountains of Cata- 
mango, Rio Calvas, and Macara, agues are extremely common. 
But the natives there, as well as in Loxa, of whatever cast, 
would die rather than have recourse to Cinchona bark, which, 
together with opiates, they place in the class of poisons, exciting 
mortification. The Indians cure themselves by lemonades, by 
the oleaginous aromatic peel of the small green wild lemon, 
by infusions of Scoparia dúlcis, and by strong coffee. In 
alacatis only, where many bark-peelers live, they begin to 
put confidence in the Cinchona bark. In Loxa, there is no 
document to be found which can elucidate the history of the 
discovery of the Cinchona ; an old tradition, however, is current 
there, that the Jesuits, at the felling of the wood, had distin- 
guished, according to the custom of the country, the different _ 
kind of trees by chewing their barks; and that on such occa- 
sions they had taken notice of the considerable bitterness of that 
of the Cinchona. There being always medical practitioners 
ria the missionaries, it is said they had tried an infusion of 
e Cinchona in the tertian ague, a complaint which is very com- 
aie in that part of the country. This tradition is less impro- 
re than the assertion of European authors, and among them 
rae ate writers Ruiz and Pavon, who ascribe the discovery to 
ce Indians. The medicinal powers of the Cinchona was like- 
ts ey unknown to the inhabitants of the kingdom of New 
ada. 
k Cinchona bark is stripped from the trunk and branches in the 
eco. from September to November ; it is dried by expo- 
be ne t sun, and after being imported into Europe is sorted 
ia. 5 t is brought to this country in chests, each of whìch 
Has oe sa 100 to 200 pounds weight of bark, mixed with 
ir ie ler impurities. According to Humboldt, the quan- 
rae aoe drug annually exported from America is from 12,000 
Ge quintals. The kingdom of Santa Fe furnishes 2000 of 
ese, which are sent from Carthagena; 110 are furnished by 
oxa, and the provinces of Huamanga, Cuenca, and Jean de 
e a and the thick forests of Guamcabamba and Ayavaca, 
tnish the rest, which is shipped from Lima, Guayaquil, Payta, 
and other ports on the South Sea. 
rilla Ps bark of the shops, the Quina Naranjada, and Casca- 
C na "6 U ritusinga of the Spaniards, which is obtained from 
a ce ata, is preferred in South America to all the other 
mae o bark. It is in pieces, 5 or 6 inches long, singly or 
SRE convoluted, externally of a greyish brown colour, to 
srai of lichens often adhere, and is internally when fresh 
wah ie oe cinnamon hue. There are often intermixed 
whieh, 1s others of a coarser texture, thicker, and nearly flat, 
brinch appears to be obtained from the trunk and larger 
uches, The fracture is smooth and even; its powder is of a 
475 
pale colour; its taste is bitter and astringent ; its smell peculiar 
and aromatic, 
The yellow bark, named Quina amarilla, Cascarilla de Loxa, 
and Cascarilla amarilla, is less rolled than the pale bark, and 
the pieces are larger and thicker. Externally it is of a greyish 
brown, and covered with lichens ; internally of a much deeper 
orange than the pale bark. It has a more bitter taste, with a 
less aromatic odour, and with scarcely any sensible degree of 
astringency. 
The red bark is sometimes rolled, but more commonly in 
flat thick pieces, covered with rough entire reddish brown epi- 
dermis. It has a smooth’ fracture. It is composed of three 
layers; the inner one being of a dark ferruginous colour, it is 
more bitter and astringent than the pale and yellow bark. 
These three kinds of bark are only distinguished in Britain ; 
but M. Von Bergen, a drug broker of Hamburgh, who has writ- 
ten a valuable monograph on the Cinchonas, enumerates eight 
kinds as distinguished in commerce; and the drug merchants of 
Spain enumerate about 50 different kinds of bark: these are 
probably obtained from as many species of Cinchona, or several 
of them may be obtained from the same species—the difference 
depending upon the age, state, and habitats of the trees. 
Qualities and chemical properties.—Few vegetable substances 
have undergone so many analyses, by the most eminent chem- 
ists, as the different varieties of Peruvian bark. The basis of 
all of them is woody fibre, combined with which are various 
principles capable of being abstracted by different solvents. The 
taste of all is more or less bitter and astringent. Boiling water 
extracts all their active principles, affording a solution of a pale 
brown colour; this infusion is transparent when hot, but on 
cooling becomes turbid, and a precipitate is deposited, which is 
soluble in alcohol. The decoction has a very astringent taste, 
and a deep brown colour. By long boiling the virtues are nearly 
destroyed, owing to the chemical change and precipitation of its 
active matter. Alcohol, in all its modifications, is a powerful 
solvent of the active principles of Cinchona. A saturated solu- 
tion of ammonia is also a solvent of them, but acetate acid acts 
less imperfectly than even water. Vauquelin found that an in- 
fusion of the pale bark reddened litmus paper ; was copiously 
precipitated by solution of galls, and in a smaller degree in yel- 
lowish flocculent flakes by solution of isinglass. A solution of 
tartar emetic was rendered turbid, and slowly precipitated by it; 
solution of superacetate of lead produces quickly a copious 
precipitate. The addition of a solution of the sulphate of iron 
to the infusion changed the.colour to a bright olive green, but was 
scarcely precipitated. The powder macerated in sulphuric acid 
afforded a golden yellow tincture, which reddened litmus paper, 
and left a pellicle of bitter resin when evaporated on the surface 
of water, to which it gave the colour of the tincture. This 
coloured water did not precipitate the solution of galls and of 
tartar emetic, and occasioned no precipitate on the addition of 
the solution of sulphate of iron. With alcohol it produced a 
deep orange coloured tincture, which precipitated sulphate of 
iron, tartarized antimony, and tannin, The agency of the dif- 
ferent menstrua on the red and yellow varieties of the Cinchdna 
produce nearly the same results as on the common or pale bark. 
The filtered solution of yellow bark has a pale golden hue, with 
a shade of red; it is bitter, reddens litmus paper, and precipi- 
tates solution of galls. On adding a solution of isinglass, a 
pinkish yellow precipitate is produced ; superacetate throws 
down a precipitate; tartarised antimony gives a precipitate in 
pale yellowish flakes. A solution of the sulphate of iron changes 
its colour to a bluish green, and slowly lets fall a precipitate of 
the same colour. The alcoholic tincture appears to be in every 
respect the same as that afforded by the pale bark. The red 
bark has a more nauseous taste than the barks of the other species. 
3Pr2 
