CINCHONA OFFICINALIS. 153 
fountain in which some of the bark of this tree had fallen. He 
also relates that it was first made known to the Spaniards 
by a native Indian, grateful for saving his life. Humboldt 
and Bonpland, and other travellers, however, found the 
natives of the neighbourhood of Loxa, where the tree grows 
in great profusion, totally ignorant of its medicinal virtues ; 
and Humboldt tells us of an old tradition, that the Jesuits, 
having accidentally discovered the bitterness of the bark, used 
it as an infusion in tertian ague, and in this manner became 
acquainted with its valuable properties: this he thinks a 
much less improbable tradition than that which ascribes its 
discovery to either lions or Indians. It was introduced into 
Europe in 1632, although the first authentic cure seems to have 
been that of the Countess of Chinchon, wife of the Viceroy 
of Peru, in 1640; it hence acquired the name of Cinchona 
bark and Pulvis Cometiz. It seems that the Jesuits kept the 
secret of their wonderful febrifuge for many years, until it was 
discovered by an English physician, Sir Robert Talbot, who 
practised in Paris in 1679; he cured Colbert, the Prince of 
Condé, and the Dauphin of ague, and then sold his secret to 
Louis XIV., for £1,600 and an annuity of £80 per annum. 
It was of such value in his time, that it was sold for £5 per 
ounce. It is one of the specifics of the old school of medicine, 
and it is a curious fact, that its first introduction was most 
vehemently opposed by the medical profession. Its specific 
action in intermittent fevers is well known. It has also been 
used by the allopathic school, under certain circumstances, 
in continued inflammatory fevers. In rheumatism and in 
scrofulous inflammation of the eye. In diseases characterised by 
atony and debility. In chronic affections of the alimentary 
canal. In passive hemorrhages and profuse mucous discharges. 
In cachectic diseases, and as a topical astringent. 
Independent of its medicinal virtues, to the homeopathist 
this medicine has an additional interest, as it is to the peculiar 
effects it produced on Hahnemann; whilst translating Cullen’s 
