24 TIIE ANGOSTUEA BARK. 



the foot of the hills that surround the missions Capapui, 

 Upata, and Alta Gracia. The Caribbee Indians make use 

 of an infusion of the bark of the cuspare, which they con- 

 sider as a strengthening remedy. M. Bonpland discovered 

 the same tree west of Cumana, in the gulf of Santa Fe, 

 where it may become one of the articles of exportation from 

 New Andalusia. 



The Catalonian monks prepare an extract of the Cortex 

 angosturse, which they send to the convents of their 

 province, and which deserves to be better known in the 

 north of Europe. It is to be hoped that the febrifuge and 

 antidysenteric bark of the bonplandia will continue to be 

 employed, notwithstanding the introduction of another, 

 described by the name of false Angostura lark, and often 

 confounded with the former. This false Angostura, or 

 Angostura pseudo-ferruginea, comes, it is said, from the 

 Brucea antidysenterica ; it acts powerfully on the nerves, 

 produces violent attacks of tetanus, and contains, according 

 to the experiments of Pelletier and Caventon, a peculiar 

 alkaline substance* analogous to morphine and strychnine. 

 As the tree which yields the real Cortex angostura3 does 

 not grow in great abundance, it is to be wished that plan- 

 tations of it were formed. The Catalonian monks are well 

 fitted to spread this kind of cultivation; they are more 

 economical, industrious, and active than the other mis- 

 sionaries. They have already established tan-yards and 

 cotton-spinning in a few villages; and if they suffer the 

 Indians henceforth to enjoy the fruit of their labours, they 

 will find great resources in the native population. Con- 

 centered on a small space of land, these monks have the 

 consciousness of their political importance, and have from 

 time to time resisted the civil authority, and that of their 

 bishop. The governors who reside at Angostura have 

 struggled against them with very unequal success, according 

 as the ministry of Madrid showed a complaisant deference 



* Brucine. M. Pelletier has wisely avoided using the word angostu- 

 rine, because it might indicate a substance taken from the real Cortex 

 angosturse, or Bonplandia trifoliata. (Annales de Chimie, vol. xii, 

 p. 117.) We saw at Peru the barks of two new species of weinmannia 

 and wintera mixed with those of cinchona ; a mixture less dangerous, but 

 still injurious, on account of the superabundance of tannin and acrid 

 matter contained in the false cascarilla. 



