C I N 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



C I N 



303 



of putrefaction, yet in mortifications attended with a fulness 

 of the pulse, or such as arise from too large a quantity of 

 blood, its use should not be admitted ; but in such morti- 

 fications as originate in a poverty of that vital fluid, it is truly 

 excellent, and cannot well be used too freely. Those who 

 cannot take the bark in substance, may infuse an ounce of it 

 reduced to a fine powder in three quarters of a pint of cold 

 spring water for the space of an hour, and then pour it clear 

 off : three or four ounces of this infusion is a moderate dose. 

 We have no well-authenticated account at what time or by 

 what means the medicinal efficacy of the Peruvian bark was 

 lirst brought to light : most of the tales commonly related 

 have too fabulous an air to be admitted here ; but the fol- 

 lowing statement given by Geoffrey seems to be the most 

 probable, and certainly is the best authenticated. A great 

 number of the trees which surrounded a lake near a town in 

 Peru, were torn up by an earthquake, and thrown into the 

 water, which they rendered bitter. An Indian, urged by his 

 thirst, during a fever under which he laboured, drank plenti- 

 fully of this water, because he could procure no other ; and 

 observing that he soon recovered, he related the case to 

 others, who laboxired under similar circumstances, and on 

 following his example were likewise cured : on this, inquiry 

 was made, and it was soon discovered that the water derived 

 its virtue from the trees ; and presently after, that the medi- 

 cinal virtues resided in the bark of them only. About the 

 year 1638, a Spanish soldier being quartered in the house of 

 an Indian, was seized with an ague, and he compassionating 

 his case, told him of a remedy, which was no other than the 

 bark, with which he cured himself, and afterwards many of 

 his comrades. At length the vice-queen, wife of the count 

 del Cinchon, then viceroy of Peru, was by this same soldier 

 cured of an intermitting fever with the same medicine, which, 

 on this occasion, received the name of pulvts comltissts, cor- 

 tex china-china or ckinchina, kina-kina or kinkina, quina- 

 quina or quinquina. The countess is said to have distri- 

 buted a large quantity of the bark, upon "her recovery, among 

 the Jesuits, in whose hands it acquired still greater reputa- 

 tion, and by whom it was first introduced into Europe, 

 acquiring the name of Jesuit's bark, cortex and pulvis Jesui- 

 ticus, puluis pat rum, and also cardinal de Lugo's powder, that 

 charitable prelate having bought a large quantity of it at 

 a great expense for the use of the poor at Rome, whence it 

 spread into France and England, and at length became 

 general. For a more particular account of the bark and its 

 various properties, read Lewis, Newman, Motherly, and 



Percival. The other speciesof Cinchona approach in some 



degree to the virtues of the common officinal bark, but seem 

 less efficacious, and their power less perfectly ascertained in 

 practice. The red bark (see the seventh species) has indeed 

 been often considered as of still higher efficacy than the 

 common, and has been thought to be the bark, which, ac- 

 cording to Arrot, the Spaniards call Cascarilla Colorado, and 

 was probably the kind brought originally to Europe, and 

 which proved so successful in the hands of Sydenham, 

 Morton, and Lister ; as it appears, from the testimony of 

 the oldest practitioners, that the bark first employed was of 

 a much higher colour than the common bark. 



C 2. Cinchona Pubescens ; Pubescent Cinchona, Leaves 

 ovate, elongated at the base, pubescent underneath ; cap- 

 sules cylindrical. The branches of this species are pubes- 

 cent towards the end. Native of Peru. 



3. Cinchona Macrocarpa; Long-fruited Cinchona. Leaves 

 oblong, pubescent underneath, ribbed. Branches jointed, 

 the size of a swan's quill; leaves more than a hand in length ; 

 flowers subsessile, Native of Santa Fe. 



** Corollas smooth ; Stamina standing out. 



4. Cinchona Caribbsa ; Caribbean Cinchona. Peduncles 

 axillary, one-flowered. Jacquin says this is an erect branching 

 shrub, ten feet high ; or, from fifteen to twenty feet, accord- 

 ing to Swartz. Jacquin informs us, that the leaves are from 

 two to three inches long, and reflex at the end ; that the 

 flowers are of a very pale flesh -colour, exceedingly sweet- 

 scented ; and the capsules, before they become ripe, green, 

 very bitter, and abound in a juice that excites heat and irri- 

 tation on the lips and nostrils. Dr. Wright informs us, that 

 the Jesuit's-bark tree of Jamaica and the Caribbees rises to 

 twenty feet, with a trunk not thick in proportion, but hard, 

 tough, and of a yellowish white colour in the inside ; the 

 leaves, he says, are of a rusty green, and the young buds of 

 a blueish-green hue ; the flowers are of a dusky yellow co- 

 lour ; and the pods black ; when ripe they split in two, and 

 are, with their flat brown seeds, in every respect similar to 

 the first species. The bark in general is smooth, and gray on 

 the outside, though in some rough and scabrous ; when well 

 dried, the inside is of a dark brown colour : its flavour at 

 first is sweet, with a mixture of the taste of Horse-radish, 

 and of the aromatics of the East, but when swallowed, of 

 that bitterness and astringency which characterises the 

 Peruvian bark. It grows near the sea-shore, and is called 

 sea-side beech in Jamaica. Native of the West Indies. 



5. Cinchona Corymbifera ; Corymbiferous Cinchona. Leaves 

 oblong-lanceolate; corymbs axillary. Trunk Upright, round, 

 smoothish, a fathom or more in height, the thickness of the 

 human arm ; branches round, spreading, opposite, the upper 

 ones herbaceous, compressed at the joints ; leaves acumi- 

 nate, spreading, smooth and even, a hand in length, deep 

 green, with the midrib purple underneath : petioles round, 

 spreading, longer than the interstices of the leaves, scarcely 

 an inch in length ; stipules membranaceous, acute : flowers 

 white, red on the outside ; before opening they appear of a 

 duskypurple : thebarkis extremely bitter, and subastringent, 

 very like the common Jesuit's bark. Native of the islands 

 ofTongataboo and Eaoowe in the South Seas; where it is 

 cultivated on account of the pleasantness of its odour, and 

 the beauty of its flowers. 



6. Cinchona Lineata. Panicle terminating ; leaves ovate, 

 acuminate, smooth; capsules five-cornered. Branchesround 

 at bottom, with an ash-coloured bark, purplish at top ; 

 germen five-cornered. Native of the island of Dominica. 



7. Cinchona Floribunda ; Tufted Cinchona. Panicle ter- 

 minating ; capsules turbinate, smooth ; leaves elliptic, acu- 

 minate, The whole of this species is very smooth : the 

 branches are round at bottom, but obscurely four-cornered 

 at top, and purplish ; leaves resembling those of the Coffee 

 shrub, frequently short, a span in length, spreading very 

 much, lanceolate-elliptic, on the upper surface even, shin- 

 ing, with a groove along the middle, on the under paler, 

 veined, nerved ; the nerves oblique, and but little raised ; 

 petiole half an inch in length, convex beneath. This tree is 

 nearly the size of a Cherry-tree, seldom thicker than the 

 human thigh, and tolerably straight ; the wood is light and 

 porous, without any of the bitterness and astringency of the 

 bark ; the flowers, which appear in June, are in small tufts, 

 at first white, purplish; the bark is of a lighter red than that 

 which was sent to St. Lucia under the name of red bark, in- 

 clining more to the colour of cinnamon, notwithstanding 

 which they are probably of the same species. This tree 

 grows in a stiff red clay, delights in a shady situation, a 

 north-west aspect, under larger trees, and is generally near 

 the middle of a hill by some running water. Native of 

 St. Lucia, Martinico, and Hispaniola, 



