\CHINCHONA | CULTIVATION IN INDIA. 51 
‘Lieutenant-Governor, that I have: succeeded in forming an infusion of 
tothe leaves of C. succirubra from. the plants of that species in the Ghin- 
"*ehona: Nursery, near. Darjeeling. The leaves fell off spontaneously 
during the months of June and July. I sent the infusion to Dr. Collins, 
Civils Surgeon of: Darjeeling, with a request that he would administer 
"the infusion to: some of the patients in the Civil Hospital. He has 
- just informed me that he had given the infusion in doses of one fluid 
“ounce to the first four cases of intermittent fever that occurred, and 
'that-these patients had been cured without any other medicine what- 
' ver.. This result proves that the infusion of the leaves of C. succirubra 
` possesses some of the febrifuge properties of Chinchona; the in- 
fusion is of a dark chocolate colour and is intensely bitter. I hope to 
be ableto submit an account of the chemical analysis of this infusion 
by Dr. Macnamara, Chemical Examiner to Government.” 
In January, 1863, the Secretary of State for India, in Council, ad- 
dressed a dispatch to the Madras Government on the subject of Chin- 
-"ehona cultivation, of which the following are extracts :— 
“The complete success which has hitherto attended this important 
‘experiment is very satisfactory, and I am of opinion that it has now 
reached a stage at which it has become necessary to take effective steps 
© both to ensure the steady annual increase of the area of the Government 
“plantations in the Neilgherries, and the introduction of the Chinchona 
“into other hill districts. I therefore approve of your resolution to plant 
~ 150 acres annually, for at least ten years, so that, at the end of that period, 
` there may be a prospect of obtaining a very large harvest of quinine-yield- 
~ingbark. No return can be expected before that time, so far as bark is 
concerned; but I take this opportunity of calling your attention to theSup 
' plement to the ‘Calcutta Gazette’ of October 15th (No. 54),1862, in which 
it is stated that an infusion of the leaves of C. succirubra, which had 
‘Spontaneously fallen from plants in the Darjeeling nursery in June and 
Saly had been’ administered-to patients suffering from intermittent fever, 
"Who were cured without any other medicine whatever. If the Chinchona 
leaves can'thus be turned to account, a return on the outlay may be 
obtained. almost immediately, while great additional benefit will be 
^erived from the cultivation of the plants. The medicinal properties 
- ‘ofthe leaves can be tested on a very much larger scale in your Presi- 
‘dency than at Darjeeling, and I desire that measures may "ee = 
E 
