HISTORY OF QUININE 



or red Indian were not forgotten, and gradually came into 

 practice. 



It must be remembered that these savages were true 

 scientific experimentalists, and made discoveries which have 

 been of infinite service to mankind. We remember great 

 men like Harvey, Lister, and Pasteur, but we never think 

 of the Indian who discovered quinine. 



The quinine trees, the yellow variety or Calisaya cinchona^ 

 grow in the mountains of north-eastern Bolivia and south- 

 eastern Peru, in wild, inaccessible places at heights of 5000 

 to 6000 feet. The Indians probably experimented with 

 almost every part of every wild tree before they discovered 

 the wonderful properties of this particular species. The 

 quinine in nature is probably intended to prevent some fun- 

 gus or small insect from attacking the bark : when quinine 

 is used in malaria, it kills the fever germ which attacks the 

 blood corpuscles of the sick person, so that it is of the 

 utmost importance in all tropical countries. 



When the Jesuit fathers reached Peru and made friends 

 and converts of the Indians, they discovered this remedy. 

 Soon after the Countess de Chinchon, wife of the Viceroy of 

 Peru, fell seriously ill of fever and was cured by the use of 

 Jesuit's bark or quinine. It was introduced into Europe 

 about 1638, but for a very long time the entire supply came 

 from South America. The British Indian government were 

 paying some £12,000 every year for South American quinine 

 and, at the same time, the supply was running short, for the 

 Indians were cutting down every tree. 



At last, in 1859 (on the suggestion of Dr. Royle in 1839), 



the adventurous journeys of Clements Markham, Spruce, and 



Robert Cross resulted in the introduction of the Cinchona 



now flourishing in Madras, Bombay, and Ceylon. In 1 897 



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