THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 



419 



medicine which is so potent. The cinchona alone arrests 

 the ravages of deadly fevers in their fatal progress ; with- 



193. Thyrsus of Flowers of the Yellow Cinchona: Cinchona cordifolia (Mutis). 



out it many countries would be uninhabitable, many jour- 

 neys impossible. Hence, in their enthusiasm about its 

 marvellous power, many physicians, in imitation of Torti, 

 have given it the name of " herculean remedy." 1 



1 The following passages will show how M. Georges Pouchet, following the 

 account of La Condamine, inserted in the Memoires de V Acade'mie des Sciences, 



