560 MANUAL OF THE NILAGIRI DISTRICT. 



CII. XXX. ations should be retained under the superintendence of a 



Chi^^ona specialist. _ . , , , , . . ^. 1 



Culture. So soon as it was ascertained by the analysis ot barks sent 

 Th^iianu- to England for analysis, that they bid fair to yield quinine and 

 factureof other kinds of alkaloids, and that the yield of these alkaloids 

 aikaloicls m .^g^j.jmj with, or was more or less dependent upon, artificial condi- 

 tions of culture, the Madras Government suggested, on the 

 advice of Mr. Markham, who visited the plantations in 1865^ that 

 an experienced chemist, having a thorough knowledge of chiu- 

 chona and its product, should be appointed to investigate on the 

 spot various points connected with the cultivation of the tree and 

 the extraction and use of its alkaloids. The Secretary of State 

 approved the proposal, as without such aid the various questions 

 at issue — including that of undertaking the manufacture of quinine 

 and other chinchona alkaloids locally — could not be satisfactorily 

 settled. 

 Mr. Brough- Mr. John Broughton, an Assistant at the Royal Institution, 

 ton appointed ^j^jg^-^arle Street, was selected, and reached India in November 



quinologist. n t -> 



1866. His salary was fixed at £1,000 yearly. 



In the instructions^ to Mr. Broughton the Secretary of State 

 remarks : — 



" The oldest trees on the Neilgherries have now been planted out 

 for nearly four years, and the analyses of their barks, which have been 

 made by Mr. Howard, prove that there is a very marked increase 

 of the yield of febrifuge alkaloids under cultivation. The time has 

 now come, therefore, when it is necessary to investigate the causes 

 which regulate the yield of alkaloids from cultivated cinchona 

 barks, and to ascertain the preparation of the febrifuge which will 

 combine cheapness with efficacy in the greatest degree." 



" The analysis of bark from plants growing in different situations, 

 by a competent scientific chemist on the spot, will be a principal 

 means of discovering the conditions, as regards elevation, climate, soil 

 and exposure, best calculated to produce the largest possible yield of 

 alkaloids, those conditions of course varying with the different 

 species. There are several difficult questions connected with the 

 formation of the alkaloids in bai-k, and particularly with the changes ia 

 the alkaloids themselves, caused probably by cultivation, which should 

 be carefully and diligently investigated. It will also be an important 

 duty of the chemist attached to the Cinchona Plantations to ascertain 

 the difference, as regards yield and efficacy, between green and dried 

 barks ; and to make accurate analyses of the leaves, and hereafter 

 possibly of the flowers, of the different species. The best method of 

 drying the bark must be decided by scientific experiments; and, 



1 Blue Book, 1870. 



