66 PHARMACOPEIAL DRUGS 



S. Wellcome 1 , who in 1878-9 made an exploring trip 

 to the cinchona sections of South America. Mr. Well- 

 come's impromptu Address on the Cinchona Subject, 

 accompanied by specimens of the bark and leaves 

 taken by him from the cinchona trees, formed the lead- 

 ing feature of the meeting of the American Pharma- 

 ceutical Association in Indianapolis, 1879. (Proc. 

 Am. Pharm. Assn., 1879, p. 830.) He accepted that 

 the use of cinchona in fevers was known to the Indians, 

 but that they were secretive concerning it, "as is fre- 

 quently the case with primitive peoples, in all parts of 

 the world." He asks, "How is it that the term applied 

 to cinchona bark by the Indians is quinia-quinia, 

 which signifies 'medicine bark?' " He adds, "The 

 Indians of Equador told me they regarded the bark as 

 a specific in fever." 



Taking the evidence as a whole, one may accept 

 either of the traditions that thread the story of cin- 

 chona, that the secret of the bark was imparted by 

 the Indians to the Jesuits, or that a Jesuit himself 

 discovered its virtues. To the writer it seems more 

 than likely that the natives of those malarial tropical 

 lands made the discovery, perhaps in times lost even 

 to tradition, than that a casual explorer of the almost 

 inaccessible valleys of the high Cordilleras should, 

 from the multitude of herbs, shrubs and trees, with 

 tropical forms of vegetation of every description be- 

 fore him, have experimented-on himself and established 

 the qualities of the bark of this one tree. To this we 

 might add that the art of neglecting to credit the 



i Henry S. Wellcome is an American, connected, at the time he made the exploration 

 of the cinchona regions of South America, with the New York firm of McKesson & Rohhins, 

 under whose auspices he made the journey. He removed to England and with Mr. Bur- 

 roughs established the firm Burroughs, Wellcome & Co. The African traveler and explorer, 

 Stanley, and Mr. Wellcome, were close friends, jointly introducing Btrophanthus, which sec. 



