842 



RUBIACE^, 



William Arrot/ a Scotch surgeon who visited Peru in the early part 

 of the last century, states that the opinion then current at Loxa Nvas 

 that the qualities and use of the barks of Cinchona were known to the 

 Indians before any Spaniard came among them. Condaniine, as well as 

 Jussieu, heard the same statements, which appear to have been generally 

 prevalent at the close of the 17th century. 



It is noteworthy, on the other hand, that though the Peruvians 

 tenaciously adhere to their traditional customs, they make no use at the 

 -present day of Cinchona bark, but actually regard its employment 

 with repugnance. 



Humboldt^ declares that at Loxa the natives would rather die 



than have recourse to what they consider so dangerous a remedy. 

 Poppi 





(1830) found a strong prejudice to pt-evail among the people of 

 Huanuco against Cinchona as a remedy for fevers, and the same fact 



The latter traveller 



was observed farther north by Spruce* in 1861. 

 narrates, 'ihat it ' - ^ . 



tfa 



to 



the casccirilleros of 



was impossible to convin ce 

 Ecuador tH^t their Bed Bark could be wanted for any other purpose 



than dyeing cloth ; and that even at Guayaquil there was a general 

 dislike to the use of quinine. 



:Markham' notices the curious fact that the wallets of the native 

 itmerant doctors, who from father to son have plied their art since the 

 days of the Incas, never contain cinchona bark. 



Althouorh 



Peru was discovered 



1513, and submitted to the 



Spanish yoke by the middle of the century, no mention has been found 

 of the febrifuge bark with which the name of the country is connected, 

 earher than the commenceinent of the 17th century. 



Joseph de Jussieu,« who visited Loxa in 1739, relates that the use 

 ot the remedy was first made known to a Jesuit missionary, who being 

 attacked by intermittent fever, was cured bv the bark administered to 

 him by an Indian cacique at Malacotas, a village near Loxa. The date 

 ot this event IS not given. The same story is related of the Spanish 

 corregidor of Loxa, Don Juan Lopez Canizares, who is said to have 

 been cured of fever in 1630. 



Eight years later, tET^ife of the viceroy of Peru, Luis Geroninio 

 ^ ernandez de Cabrera y Bobadilla, fourth count of Chinchon, having 



P^nlS + il ^'^\}'^'' countess Ana was cured.^ Upon her recovery, she 

 caused to be collected large quantities of the bark, which she used to 



T'^ZaTJiiV'''^ °^ f^v<^^' so that the medicine came to be 

 called 1 olvo de la Condesa, i.e. The Countess' Poivder. It was certainly 



J'lant, 1863. tIIs^ ^'"^'" C/unchona 



Quinquinas, / 15 ft^ ^ \'^ ^i'^^- des 



publiked Ml.-The town '^f t^^'^'^^^'^ ""' 



was founded by theS ^ ""{ ^?^^ °^ ^-^J^ 



"y tue Spaniards in 154(]. 



' The circumstances are fully narrated j)J 

 La Condamine (Mdm. de VAcad. ro>jak m 

 Sciences, annt^e 1 738). But the cure ot tn 

 countess waa known in Europe mucU oe 

 tliig, for it is mentioned h ^^^^t'^-Z 

 Bado in his A nastasis, Corticis ^<^rujnm,je 

 aihm ChincB de/ensio published at wi ■ 

 in 1663. When Bado wrote, it w^»^* 

 bated question whether the bark w;a3 1"^ 

 duced to EuFope by the count ot •- nm^- 

 or by the Jesuit Fathers, 



