40() CINCHONA VEL CIIINCHONA. 



1875. species of Chinchonae, and are among the highest authorities on 

 the subject. They strongly advocated the correct spelling. . . . 

 The botanist Mutis, with his disciples Zea and Caldas, were 

 engaged in the study of the Chinchonae of New Granada, the 

 former residing in South America, chiefly at Bogota, from 1783, 

 until his death in 1808. They also spelt the word correctly. 



" ' That Linnaeus could not have been ignorant of the correct 

 spelling at a much earlier date than that mentioned seems 

 probable from the following circumstance: In 1758, J. Ch. P. 

 Petersen read at Upsala an academic dissertation, " De Cortice 

 Peruviano," Linnaeus presiding. In this production, which was 

 afterwards printed, the name of the Spanish Viceroy appears 

 (more than once) as " Comes del Chinchon," while the bark is 

 spoken of as " Chinchona," and never as Cinchona (" quamvis 

 nonnulli Chinchonam in scorbuto esse magni ponderis remedium 

 . . . .' p. 10. 



Letters of " As to Mutis, Mr. Markham overlooks the fact that that 



Mutis to botanist was residing at Bogota, not merely in 1783 but in 1763, 



ms ' under which latter date he wrote thence to Linnaeus ; and that 



a correspondence was kept up between them for eighteen years. 



Some of Mutis's letters are fortunately extant, and form part of 



the Linnean collections at Burlington House. As they throw 



some light on the subject, I have made from them a few 



extracts. Translations of the letters may be found in Sir J. 



E. Smith's Selections of the Correspondence of Linnaeus, London, 



1821. 



"24th Sept., 1764. (Mutis to Linnaeus). ' Verum ne plane 

 ineptissimae hae literae tibi viderentur, inconem et flores quosdam. 

 Chinchonae adjungere duxi. An description! suae figuram ullam 

 addiderit Celeberrimus de la Condamine, vel an plantam siccam 

 examinasse tibi licuerit, necne, cum nullam notam in descriptione 

 Chinchouae editionis Holmiae 54 videam, non plane mihi constat.' 

 (The drawings and specimens here alluded to, still exist in the 

 Linnean herbarium.) 



"3 Oct., 1767. (The same to the same.) '. . . sane prater 

 ultimas lineas, in quibus nunciabatur, te Cinchonam accepisse ; 

 quasque in Civitate Bogotensi, antequain illinc longissimae 

 peregrination! paratus decederem, summa jucunditate legisse 

 contigit. . .' 



"15 May, 1770. In this letter the name of the plant occurs 

 four times, and is always written after the fashion of Linnaeus 

 with one h. Appended to the letter, Mutis sends a botanical 

 description of a plant which he calls Cinchona Gironensis. 



" 6 June, 1773. Mutis here acknowledges the receipt from 





