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AMERICAN FORESTRY 



GUM ARABIC FROM THE ACACIA TREE 



Natives of Senegal. Africa, where the tree flourishes, slit the bark in order to ob- 

 tain the gum acacia or gum arabic. This is a constituent of important prep- 

 arations m pharmacy, such as making of emulsions and in the preparation of 

 pills and troches. 



purposes for which they were recommended by the 

 ancients. The galls are spherical bodies, -/, to * -, inch 

 in diameter, and contain 27 per cent to 77 per cent 

 querco-tannic acid. The Ouercus iufcctoria, of the Orient, 

 furnishes most of the nut-galls, though the wood of all 

 species of oak is also rich in tannic acid. 



Whenever a pessimistic physician says that drugs 

 never cure disease, some one is sure to ask him about 

 quinine. For quinine is one of the few antiseptics which, 

 taken internally, will kill an invading parasite without 

 also killing the patient. Malaria is caused by a minute 

 parasite injected into the blood through the bite of a 

 mosquito. The parasite usually raises a new family every 

 other day ; hence the intermittent chills and fever. 

 Quinine, taken in proper doses and at proper intervals, 

 will kill this parasite and cure the disease by destroy- 

 ing its cause. It is, therefore, a specific drug. There 

 are few specifics. 



In 1632 the Governor of Peru was much worried about 

 his wife, the Countess of Chinchon, who was desperately 

 ill with chills and fever. The Corregidor of Loxa rec- 

 ommended the bark of a certain tree which the Indians 

 used as a medicine. The medicine was given and the 

 Countess recovered. The bark was then rewarded for its 



good behaxior by being called Cinchona bark. The Jesuit 

 order afterward introduced it into Europe, where it was 

 called Jesuits' bark. 



The Cinchona calisaya, Cinchona succinihra and other 

 species of Cinchona are trees of various sizes, some reach- 

 ing a height of 80 feet or upwards. Of the fortv species, 

 about a dozen are of economic use. They are native to 

 New Granada, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia and grow in 

 dense tropical forests, in isolation or in small clumps. 

 The work of securing the bark is of great hardship to 

 the Indian cascadnrcs. Having found a tree, the casca- 

 dorc must literally hack his way to it, clean it of surround- 

 ing vines, and brush and strip the bark from its trunk, 

 later felling the tree and stripping the branches. The 



A GROUP OF MANXA TREES IN SICILY 



Manna .the exudation obtained by incising the Fraxinus Ornus. is a remedy more 

 esteemed by our grandfathers than by the present generation. 



work of drying, packing and transporting this bark is done 

 under ecjually adverse conditions, and the entire enterprise 

 is difficult, dangerous and wasteful. 



As early as 1854 the Dutch Government endeavored 

 to cultivate cinchona in Java. A successful industry was 

 established in the h'ast Indies in 1861. Now it is culti- 

 vated in Ceylon, southern India, British Burma and many 

 similar tropical climes, and is an industr)' of great 

 commercial value. Of the several alkaloids found in 

 cinchona bark, quinine is the most important, medi- 

 cally and commerciallv. 



Ask any physician. " What is the most useful and 

 most used stimulant to the heart and nervous system ? " 

 and he will answer : " .Strvchnia." 



Strychnia is an alkaloid found originally in the seed of 

 the Strychnos nux-vomica, the poison-nut tree, found in 

 India, Burma and Siam, and growing also in Cochin China 

 and Australia. It is of moderate size, and has a fruit the 

 size of a small orange with a hard shell and a bitter pulp 

 enclosing one to five seeds, less than one inch in diameter 



