LADY ANA DE OSORIO. 477 



given to him by the Indians, as long ago as 1600 ; and in about 1875. 

 1636, an Indian of Malacotas revealed the secret virtues of the 

 quinquina bark to the Corregidor Canizares. In 1638, therefore, 

 he sent a parcel of it to the Vice-Queen, and the new remedy, 

 administered by her physician, Dr. Don Juan de Vega, effected 

 a rapid and complete cure." 



The Countess with her husband returned to Spain in 1640 

 "bringing with her" (to quote Mr. Markham), "a supply of 

 that precious quina bark which had worked so wonderful a cure 

 upon herself, and the healing virtues of which she intended to 

 distribute among the sick on her lord's estates, and to make 

 known generally in Europe." 



These projects, it may be assumed, she carried out, for it is Pulvis 

 certain that the powdered bark became known in Europe as Comltlssae - 

 Pulvis Comitissae (the Countess's powder) ; while the local 

 traditions of Chinchon and the adjacent town of Colmenar still 

 preserve, even to the present day, as Mr. Markham assures us, 

 the memory of the good deeds of the Countess in ministering 

 to the sufferers from tertian ague in the fruitful but unhealthy 

 vegas of the Tagus, Jarama, and Tajuna. 



There can be no doubt that the cure of a dangerous fever in introduction 

 the person of a patient of such high distinction as the Vice- of the Kark - 

 Queen of Peru had the effect of drawing great attention to the 

 new remedy, and that the employment of the drug in Europe 

 dates from this event. But Mr. Markham might well have 

 added that the use of the bark was largely diffused by the 

 Jesuits, at the instigation in the first instance of the Countess 

 herself such being the statement of La Condamine, 1 who, after 

 describing the distribution of the medicine by the lady, adds, 

 " Quelques mois apres elle se dtlarrassa de ce soin, en remettant ce 

 giii lui en restoit aux RR. PP. Jdsuites, qui contimUrent a le 

 ddbiter gratis" Among the ecclesiastical patrons of the new 

 febrifuge, the most zealous was the Spanish Cardinal de Lugo, 

 whose pleasure it was to distribute the febrifuge gratuitously 

 among the poor of Rome. 



The first four sections of Mr. Markham's work having been 



1 Mem. de F Academic Royale des Sciences pour V Annec 1738, p. 234. 



