CORTEX CINCHONA. 



845 



I 



For the first accurate information on the botany of Cinchona, science 

 is indebted to the French.^ 



Charles-Marie do la Condamine, while occupied in common with 

 Bouguer and Godin, as an astronomer from 1736 to 1743, in measuring 

 the arc of a degree near Quito, availed himself of the opportunity to 

 investigate the origin of the famous Peruvian Bark. On the 3rd and 

 4th of February, 1737, he visited the Sierra de Cajanuma, 2^ leagues 

 from Loxa, and there collected specimens of the tree now known as 

 Cinchona offi^cinalis var. a. Condaminea, At that period the very 

 large trees had already become rare, but there were still specimens 

 having trunks thicker than a man's body, Caianuma was the home of 



the first cinchona bark 



body, Cajanuma was the home of 



brought to Europe; and in early times it 



enjoyed such a reputation, that certificates drawn up before a notary 

 were provided as proof that parcels of bark were the produce of that 

 favoured locality, 



Joseph de Jussieu, botanist to the French expedition with which La 

 Condamine was connected, gathered, near Loxa in 1730, a second 

 Cinchona subsequently named by Vahl G. fuhescens, a species of no 

 medicinal value. 



In 1742 Linnaeus established the genus Gincliona^ and in 1753 

 first described the species (7. ojfficinalisy recently restored and exactly 

 characterized by Hooker, aided by specimens supplied to him by Mr. 

 Howard. 



The cinchona trees were believed to be confined to the region around 

 Loxa, until 1752 when Miguel de Santisteban, superintendent of the 

 ^mt at Santa Fe, discovered some species in the neighbourhood of 

 Popayan and Pasto. 



^ In 1761 Jos^ Celestino Mutis, physician to the Marquis de la Vega, 

 viceroy of New Granada, arrived at Carthagena from Cadiz, and 

 immediately set about collecting materials for writing a Flora of the 

 country. This undertaking he carried on with 

 especially from the year 1782 until the end of his life in 1808, 

 first for seven years at Eeal del Sapo and Mariquita at the foot of 

 the Cordillera de Quindiu, and subsequently at Santa Fe de Bogota. 

 Mutis gave up his medical appointment in 1772, for the purpose of 

 entenng a religious order, and ten years later was entrusted by the 

 Government with the establishment and direction of a large museum of 



untiring energy 



Mariquita 



also 



conferred in 1777 on the botanists Hipolito Ruiz and Jos^ Pa von with 

 regard to southern Peru, whence originated the well-known Flora 

 peruviana et ChiUnsisf as well as most important direct contributions 

 w our knowledge on the subject of Cinchona. 



, About the same time (1776), Renquizo (Renquifo or Renjifo) found 

 cinchona trees in the nei^rhbourhood of Huanuco, in the central tract 



nAnl'^'' •^^'^''^ '^^ Q^muinn par M. de la 

 ^^aamine^J/^?^. de PAcademie ro^/ale des 



tifW^ ^"'."'^ ^''^'^"^ 1738. pp. 226-243, 

 ^ith two plates. ^^ 



tliaf It^^^^ ^^^ vigorously contended 



"^c the name Cinchona should be altered 



^ omHc/to?i« as better commemorating the 



<^untes3 of Chinchoii. But the incon- 



venience of changing so well-estabhahed 

 a name and its many derivatives, has out- 

 weighed these considerations.— See hst of 

 worKs relating to Cinchona at the end of 

 the present article. 



3 Published at Madrid, 1798-1802, in 4 

 volumes folio, wath 425 plates. 



