CINCHONA PLANTATIONS IN INDIA. 237 



forests, where the wood-knife had to be used to clear 

 the path, at every step. He goes on to recount the 

 difficulties that were thrown in his way by the oppo- 

 sition of the Peruvian authorities; who, regardless of 

 everything save their own petty interests, were desirous 

 of preserving the monopoly of this valuable trade ; 

 while at the same time no attempts whatever were 

 made to prevent the destruction of these forests, whose 

 extinction had become merely a question of time. 

 The letter of the Alcalde, ordering Mr. Markham's 

 arrest, and the destruction of his collections, is given 

 in extcnso in his book, in the original Spanish, to- 

 gether with an English translation, and will probably 

 stand forth to all time as a monument of human folly, 

 rapacity, and narrow-mindedness. We wish we had 

 space to reproduce it here, but we must hasten to 

 draw our remarks on this subject to a close, after 

 adding our humble meed of praise to the young 

 French chemists to whom (in 1820) we owe the dis- 

 covery of quinine, which has ever since proved of such 

 enormous importance in the treatment of malarial fever 

 and other forms of disease. It would be impossible 

 to calculate with any approach to accuracy, the number 

 of lives that have already been saved by it but the 

 figure must be something enormous : and it is not too 

 much to say that the modern exploration and opening up 

 of Africa could not, in all probability, have been 

 effected, or even attempted at all, without it; it is 

 also very questionable whether the British Empire in 

 India could have been maintained, extended, or brought 

 to its present flourishing condition, without quinine: 

 that it could not have been done without enormous 

 losses and suffering, is practically certain. 



