230 Peruvian Bark. 



medies prescribed by bis medical adviser. The day following- 

 he drank the remainder of the same bottle of wine which was 

 left the preceding day, and within two hours afterwards he was 

 again seized with the most violent colliquative pains, head-ach, 

 shiverings, and great i)aiii over the whole i)ody. His apothecary 

 becoming suspicious that the wine he had drunk might be the cause 

 of the disease, ordered the bottle from which the wine had been 

 decanted, to be brought to him, with a view that he might ex- 

 amine the dregs, if any were left. The bottle happening to slip 

 out of the hand of the servant, disclosed a row of shot wedged 

 forcibly into the angular bent up circumference of it. On ex- 

 amining the beads of shot, they crumbled into dust, the outer 

 crust (defended by a coat of black lead with which the shot is 

 glazed) being alone left unacted on, whilst the remainder of 

 the metal was dissolved. The wine, therefore, had become con- 

 taminated with lead and arsenic, the shot being a compound of 

 these metals, which no doubt had produced the mischief. 



PERUVIAN BARK. 



In the Journal de Pharmacie for May last, there is a curious 

 detail of effects produced by an atmosphere impregnated with 

 cinchona. M.Delpech of Guayra (the port of the Caraccas) had 

 stored up (in 1806) a large quantity of newly collected cinchona 

 — filling several apartments on the ground-floor. Being visited 

 by a number of friends, he was obliged to put some of them in 

 the rooms occupied by the cinchona (each containing from eight 

 to ten thousand pounds) . These apartments were of much higher 

 temperature than the rest of the house, occasioned by the fermen- 

 tation of the bark. A bed in one of them was occupied by a tra- 

 veller ill of a malignant fever (then very prevalent). He found 

 himself much better after the first dav, though he had taken no 

 medicine ; and in a few days he was perfectly restored. This un- 

 expected event induced M. Delpech to place other persons ill of 

 fever in his magazine, all of whom were speedily cured, simply 

 by the effluvia of the bark. 



M. Delpech had deposited along with the bark a bale of cof- 

 fee selected for his own use, and some bottles of French brandy, 

 all of which remained for some months in the midst of the cin- 

 chona. After this time, M. Delpech on visiting his magazine ob- 

 served one of the bottles uncorked ; and suspecting a servant had 

 been making free with it, he determined to try the quality of the 

 brandy. He was much astonished to find its quality greatly im- 

 proved; having acquired somewhat of an aromatic flavour, and 

 become more tonic and agreeable. Tiiis improvement he could 

 only attribute to the bottle having been left uncorked ; for on 

 opening the others they were found no \vay altered : but being 



then 



