LESSONS IN BOTANY. 



in 



I.KSSON8 IN BOTANY. XXIII. 



> ION XLIV.-CINCHONACE^: (continued). 



VALUAHLK though coffee be, wo now arrive at the consideration 

 of a genus which is of far greater importanoo the gen 



Coffee ia only a luxury ; wcro tho supply of tho article 



iv to fail, wo could do without it, :iu 1 i, ir ln-ulth would 



o ; but what would tho doctors do without 



nu bark that precious medicine so valuable in agues and 



low fevers ? 



Cinchona bark and the potato tuber are the two most precious 

 donations which America has presented to the world. One 

 secures us against famine, the other is almost a specific in certain 

 febrile diseases. 



The various species of cinchonas are all evergreen trees or 

 -hrulis, inhabiting tho valleys of tho tropical Andes, between 

 the ti-i.th parallel of north and tho 

 nineteenth of south latitude, grow- 

 ing at elevations varying from 3,600 

 to y,800 feet above the level of the 

 sea. Tho trunk and larger branches 

 are cylindrical, but the younger 

 boughs are tetragonal, covered with 

 the cicatrices 

 which corre- 

 spond to the 

 presence of for- 

 mer leaves and 

 stipules. The 

 bark, which 

 bitter, contains 

 two alkaloids, 

 Utiina or qui- 

 nine, and cin- 

 chona or cin- 

 chonine. The 

 wood is white, 

 becoming yel- 

 low with age ; 

 the leaves are 

 opposed, entire, 

 veined, petio- 

 hite ; the cells 

 of their epider- 

 mis being in 

 many species 

 swollen by a 

 liquid, giving 

 rise to small 

 conical eleva- 

 tions. The petiole is short and 

 semi-cylindrical ; the stipules are 

 caducous, ordinarily free, cleft at 

 the internal portion of their base 

 by small lanccolated glands, which 

 secrete a gummy-resinous matter ; 

 the flowers are disposed in terminal 

 panicles ; the corolla is white, roseate, 

 or purple, and of a delicate odour ; 

 the pedicels are bracteolate at their 

 base. 



In commerce tho varieties of cin- 

 chona bark are very numerous. They arc all comprehended, 

 however, under the four general heads of yellow, grey, white, 

 and red bark. 



Tho tree which yields the CincJuma Calisaya (Fig. 183), or 

 royal yellow bark, bears oblong, lanceolate, ovoid leaves, obtuso 

 at their points, tapering off towards their base, marked with 

 clefts at tho bifurcation of the veins ; filaments considerably 

 shorter than the anther ; capsule ovoid, scarcely equal in length 

 to tho flowers. The bark of this species is preferred to that of 

 all others, on account of its containing more quina and less 

 cinchona, the latter alkali not being so valuable as the former. 



The grey cinchona of Losca (Cinchona Condaminea of Humboldt 

 and Bonpland) has lanceolate, oval, or pointed leaves, glabrous 

 and shining above, marked with furrows inferiorly corresponding 

 with the bifurcation of the veins. The indentations of the 

 oalyx are triangularly poirted or lanceolate ; filaments equalling 



46 N.E. 



183. 



or even exceeding tho length of toe anthers ; napsule oblong or 

 loncoolated, much longer than the flower* 5 Med* elliptic, in- 

 duntod on tho margin*. It U this species which was first 

 observed and described by the botanist Condamine. It U the 

 name plant that was formerly described under the name of 

 C'incJiona micrantha, also cinchona of Lima (Fig. 184). 



Bed cinchona (Cinchona nil and Pavon) has oborato 



lanceolate leaven, tapering off towards the base, glabrous on both 

 sides, shining above, covered with a slight down below, not 

 marked with furrows at tho axillary juncture of the nerves; cap- 

 sule lanceolate, twice as long as it is wide ; seeds imperfectly den- 

 ticulated. The bark of this species is greyish-white externally ; 

 its chemical com position is said to differ from that of the preceding 

 in the circumstance that besides cinchona and quina there exists 

 in it a third alkali resembling these in general qualities, bat con- 

 taining more oxygen ; it ia termed aricina. White cinchona bark 

 is not employed in medicine. The 

 discovery of the medical properties 

 of cinchona bark is enveloped in 

 great obscurity ; all that we know 

 about it for certain U this: Before 

 the year 1638 that is to say, 150 

 years snbsequ-mt to the discovery of 

 America not 

 even the Spa- 

 niards were ac- 

 quainted with 

 the febrifuge 

 qualities of cin- 

 chona bark; 

 but in this year, 

 or thereabouts, 

 the Countess 

 del Chinchon, 

 the wife of the 

 Spanish viceroy 

 of Pern, was 

 cured of a vio- 

 lent intermit- 

 tent fever by 

 drinking an in- 

 fusion of the 

 bark, and this 

 led to its intro- 

 duction into 

 Europe. Were 

 the natives 

 themselves ac- 

 quainted with 

 it? Hnmboldt 



answers this question very positively 

 in the negative, and refers the dis- 

 covery to the Jesuit missionaries, 

 who, being in the habit of tasting 

 the bark of every tree they hewed 

 down, at length discovered the pre- 

 cious febrifuge. Other authors of 

 repute contend that the virtues of 

 cinchona bark were known to the 

 Indians long before the advent of 

 the Spaniards; but tho question 

 again arises, how they first became 

 acquainted with its properties P To account for this the ridicu- 

 lous tale has been invented, that certain animals, while labouring 

 under fever, happened to gnaw the bark of one of the cinchona 

 trees, and wore cured forthwith. Far more probable is it that some 

 cinchona trees having been laid prostrate by tempests in a pool of 

 water, and tho latter becoming charged with the medicinal prin- 

 ciple, some person labouring under fever drank of this water, 

 was cured, and published the result. But however this may be. 

 it is certain that the remedy first became popularised in Europo 

 through the agency of tho Count del Chinchon, viceroy of Peru, 

 whose wife, as wo have said, was cured of intermittent fever by 

 its administration. 



The new remedy, however, was badly received in Franco and 

 Italy. The faculty set their faces against it Physicians who 

 dared to prescribe its use were persecuted, and it was only the 

 patronage of Louis XIV. which ultimately rendered it popular 



THE YELLOW CINCHONA (CINCHONA CALISATA) : a, ITS 

 FLOWER ; b, PISTIL ; C, COBOLLA OPENED ; d, FEUIT ; , SUC- 

 TION OF FBUIT, SHOWING SEED. 181. THE ORET CINCHONA. 

 (CINCHONA CONDAMIJiEA OB MICRANTHA). 



