Februarv I, 1883.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



637 



THE QUINA BARKS. 

 A book* haa recently been published in Berlin, by 

 Professor FliicUiger of Strassburg, on the subject of 

 the quinat barks. It contains 79 pages and eight 

 lithographed plates, and is divided into 18 sections, 

 under the following heads : — Origin ; most important 

 cinchonas ; Remijia ; home of the cinchonas ; cultiu'e of 

 the cinchonas ; gatheiiug of the barks ; appearance and 

 anatomical structm-e of the cinchona barks ; composition 

 of the tissue, scat of the alkaloids ; varieties of ciuchoua 

 barks ; so-called false quiua barks ; quina cuprea ; com- 

 mercial statistics ; chemical constituents of the quiua 

 barks ; quantitative analysis of the alkaloids ; manufact- 

 ure of quinine ; history of the quina barks up to 

 1737 ; recent history of the quina barks ; list of 

 recent works on the cinchonas and quina barks. The 

 following is a translation of the preface attached to 

 the work : — " The most important vegetable medicines 

 corresponding with the progress of development of man- 

 kind are or were in large measm'e of oriental and 

 south Em-opeau origin. America at first contributed 

 but few gifts, and that to which now in domestic 

 economy such an extraordinarily pretentious importance 

 attaches, tobacco, is of no importance in medicine, 

 although uicotiana fii-st found an entrance into Europe 

 as a ' wound-wort.' A centui-y later there arose from 

 the American plant world in quina bark a medicine 

 whose action has found ever increasing recognition 

 even in face of the severest criticism of the present 

 age. The market of the world may, by means of the 

 sums of money it puts into circulation, indicate this 

 bai-k as a most important meihciue, but its value today 

 rests much more on the fact that it is of service to 

 the industry as a raw material. Since the discovery of 

 quinine, and the consequent immediate commencement 

 of its mauufactmal production, the pharmacognostic 

 importance of quina bark has altered commensurately ; 

 the greater certainty iu the quantitative analysis of 

 the alkaloids also has had the efl'ect of throwing into 

 the backgi'ound an external knowledge of the bark 

 as such. The revolution is taking place slowly ; until quite 

 recently in the phannaceutical literature the heading 

 ' Quiua Barks' still llomished iu its pristine exuberant 

 luxuriance. The progi-ess in the culture of the cinchonas 

 necessitates now auother consideration of Chinchouology 

 (Chinology or Quinology). as, with scarcely correct em- 

 phasis, this section of pharmacognosis is called. Un- 

 fortunately the mateiials are still to a great degree 

 wanting to carry this out to a satisfactory conclusion. 

 For a systematic view the botanical kuoivledge of the 

 plant-gioup under consideration leaves much to be de- 

 sired, not to speak of the anatomical investigation of* 

 the structm-e of then- barks. Even on the most import- 

 ant question, the iucrease of the alkaloids in those 

 plants, we are deficient in infoimation. The sudden 

 flooding of the market with the Quina cuprea, which 

 does not belong to a cinchona, especially differing through- 

 out in respect of its tissue from the quina barks iu 

 the nan-ower sense, has brought to light for the whole 

 world the surprizing fact that quinine and the allied 

 bases are not confined to the genus cinchona. The 

 new views which are foi-ced upon us by these ob- 



•Die Chiuarindeu : in pharmakoguostischer Hinsicht 

 dargestelt vi n F. A, Flueckiger. Mit VlU. lithograph- 

 irten Tafeln. lierlio 1883. (The Quina Barks : considered 

 frurn a Pharniiicognostic View by F. A. Flueckiger. With 

 8 litlinorraphed plates.) 



■f- Wo have used this word to correspond to the " China" 

 of the Gorman (" Kina" in Uutcli), wbicli is a general 

 term including the cinclioua tree, bark, &c., and is applied 

 by Prof. Pluockigor also !o the "Ouprea" bark, which, 

 as he says, does not belong to a cincUonti. 

 81 



servations lie quite outside of the allied question, 

 what plants within the circle of the cinchoneai gen- 

 erally contain quiua alkaloids. The answer can 

 meanwhile be only a very imperfect one. A variety of 

 interesting topics are connected with the quina barks, both 

 traditions, which have been and remained dear to the 

 pharmaceutists aud physicians, ami also glances h'to 

 the future, which are equally worthy of more detailed 

 consideration. I was desirous, in bringing forward these 

 views to the light of the present, to clear away the 

 not always refreshing material of past ages and to open 

 the road to a better insight. The short track which I 

 have been able to make in this direct. on show.s however 

 some advance and invites to further labor. The fol- 

 lowing pages are, with a view to a larger circle of 

 rieaders, taken from my ' Pharmak^ignosie ' but ar. fuller 

 tn many points ; the importanc of the subject appeared 

 tome to justify such a proceeding. In this I have been 

 assisted in the most obliging manner by my friends, 

 Da J. E. de Vrij, 0. S. I., in Hague, and" Dr G. 

 Kemer (Zimmer quinine maniifactory in Frankfort). 

 So far the preface. In the first eaction of his .work. 

 Prof. Fliickiger describes in a general way the cascarillos 

 finos or true cinchonas and the cascar'dloH Imhos 

 or false cinchonas, the former of which are confined 

 to the mountain slopesof South America, while the 

 latter are fouud ranch more widely diffused. Wed- 

 dell's and Knntze's divisions of the cinchonas are 

 described, and the writer says : — " It is a question 

 whether it is a gain to exchange the 15 varieties and 

 sub-varieties of Weddell for the 44 varieties aud 

 bastards of Kutze. Granted however that Kuntze 

 was rightly informed as to the origin of the forms, 

 met with by him in British India and Java, it can- 

 not be conceived why the wild gi-owing South American 

 cinchonas should correspond completely and en- 

 tirely with those called bastards by Kuntze. Observ- 

 ations on platations have certainly proved that cross- 

 ings betwee cinchonas so nearly allied to each other 

 can very ea ily take place, but in nature it is scarcely 

 possible to distinguish whether we have to do with 

 such a mixed ofl'spring or with a form of a determined 

 variety, pr oduced by influences in some other man- 

 ner. J The' view of Baillon, tliat about 20 varieties 

 of cinchona are to be recognized, though not further 

 oonfirmeil may still be the most correct one." Section 

 2 of the hook deals with the most valuable cinchonas, 

 oviz. succirubra, calisaya, lancifolia, and otMcinalis, 

 the " robusta " of Trimen being mentioned under the 

 first, and C. boliviana and C. Ledgeriana being de- 

 scriljed under the second. The thu'd section is de- 

 voted to Remijia, 11 varieties of which are men- 

 tioned on the authority of Triana, the R. Furdieana 

 and R. pedunculata laeing specially referred to, as 

 furishing the barks desci'ibed as Quiua cuprea. In 

 section 4 the home of the cinchona is defined and 

 the conditions necessary for its growth are detailed. 

 In the fifth section a summary is given of the his- 

 tory of the introduction of cinchona culture into 

 India, Ceylon, .Java, cScc, and tlie diseases to which 

 the plants are liable are mentioned. We translate 

 the concluding portion of tliis section, referring to 

 the so-callcil cuprea : — " The alkaloid-yielding barks 

 which under tlie name of Quiua cuprea have of late 

 attained to sucli surpassing importance belong to the 

 genus Remijia, which grows under entirely difl'erent 

 clhnatic conditions from most cinchonas. If the 

 forestry departments will now possess themselves of 

 the valuable Remijias the culture of fever bark trees 

 can be extended into wide tracts of land from which 

 they have hitherto been excluded. Contrary to 

 what is the case in regard to the cinclionas, the 

 Remijias are not confined to the hill regions, but 

 suited to bear drought and higher temperatures, 

 which prevail for example in the cliraote of the 

 X N. B.— Ed. ^~ 



