67 
FEBRIFUGE BARK OF EL MALAMBO. 
Some Account of the Febrifuge Bark of a Tree called El 
Malambo, the Produce of South America. By Wm. 
Hamitton, m.p. (Communicated in a Letter to Earl 
Stanuope, President of the Med.-Botanical Society.) 
Iw the latter part of the year 1825, I received from my cor- 
respondent, Mr. Warrs, his Britannic Majesty’s consul at 
Carthagena, in Columbia, some samples of a febrifuge bark, 
called el Malambo, the produce of a tree with which I am 
wholly unacquainted. ‘The samples consisted of pieces of 
the bark in substance, and an ounce of it in powder. As it 
reached me by way of Liverpool, and the carriage of the 
bark in substance would have been attended with considera- 
ble difficulty and expense, I requested a friend there to place 
this last at the disposal of some medical gentleman likely to 
do justice to its investigation, while the powder was transmit- 
ted to me by post. ‘The bark in substance was accordingly 
given to Dr. Trait; of the result of whose trials I have 
never since been favoured with any report; and the powder 
1 transmitted to Dr. Bostock, whose clinical researches 
ointed him out as a person likely to promote the objects IL 
din view. After some delay, I was favoured by him with 
the following letter, dated London, 11th December, 1825. 
“Sir: I regret that so long a time should have elapsed since 
the receipt of your letter. When it arrived I was far from home, 
and have since that time been very particularly engaged. The 
account which is given of the bark is certainly very much in its 
favour, and its sensible properties are such as to render it proba- 
ble that it may be a useful article of the materia medica. The 
only plan, however, to establish a point of this nature would be to 
send a quantity of the substance to some hospital, or dispensary, 
where a number of trials might be made of it by any person in that 
kind of extensive practice. Its taste and odour would make me 
suppose that it may be found useful in affections of the stomach 
and bowels, as is the case with colombo orangustura; and, even if 
its properties were found to be very similar, still it might be im- 
portant to have a variety of articles. As I have no connexion 
with any medical charity, it will not be in my power to give you 
any assistance, and I think it will be best for you to apply to 
some practitioner in your neighbourhood. 
“Tam, sir, your most obedient, 
“J, Bostock.’ 
Mr. Watts, in his letter, dated Carthagena, 19th July, 
1525, says, 
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