342 RUBIACE^. 



William Arrot/ a Scotch surgeon who visited Peru in the early part 

 of the last century, states that the opinion then current at Loxa was 

 that the qualities and use of the barks of Cinchona were known to the 

 Indians before any Spaniard came among them. Condamine, as well as 

 Jussieu, heard the same statements, which appear to have been generally 

 prevalent at the close of the 17th century. 



It is noteworthy, on the other hand, that though the Peruvians 

 tenaciously adhere to their traditional customs, they make no use at the 

 present day of Cinchona bark, but actually regard its employment 

 with repugnance. 



Humboldt^ declares that at Loxa the natives would rather die 

 than have recourse to what they consider so dangerous a remedy. 

 Poppig^ (1830) found a strong prejudice to prevail among the people of 

 Huanuco against Cinchona as a remedy for fevers, and the same fact 

 was observed farther north by Spruce^ in 1861. The latter traveller 

 narrates, that it was impossible to convince the cascaHlleros of 

 Ecuador that their Red Bark could be wanted for any other purpose 

 than dyeing cloth ; and that even at Guayaquil there was a general 

 dislike to the use of quinine. 



Markham® notices the curious fact that the wallets of the native 

 itinerant doctors, who from father to son have plied their art since the 

 days of the Incas, never contain cinchona bark. 



Although Peru was discovered in 1513, and submitted to the 

 Spanish yoke by the middle of the century, no mention has been found 

 of the febrifuge bark with which the name of the country is connected, 

 earlier than the commencement of the 17th century. 



Joseph de Jussieu,^ who visited Loxa in 1739, relates that the use 

 of the remedy was first made known to a Jesuit missionary, who being 

 attacked by intermittent fever, was cured by the bark administered to 

 him by an Indian cacique at Malacotas, a village near Loxa. The date 

 of this event is not given. The same story is related of the Spanish 

 corregidor of Loxa, Don Juan Lopez Canizares, who is said to have 

 been cured of fever in 1630. 



Eight years later, the wife of the viceroy of Peru, Luis Geronimo 

 Fernandez de Cabrera y Bobadilla, fourth count of Chinchon, having 

 been attacked with fever, the same corregidor of Loxa sent a packet 

 of powdered bark to her physician Juan de Vega, assuring him of its 

 efficacy in the treatment of " tertiana." The drug fully bore out its 

 reputation, and the countess Ana was cured.^ Upon her recovery, she 

 caused to be collected large quantities of the bark, which she used to 

 give away to those sick of fever, so that the medicine came to be 

 called Polvo de la Condesa, i.e. The Countess' Powder. It was certainly 



1 Phil. Trans, xl. for 1737-38. 81. '^ The circumstances are fully narrated by 



2 Der Gesellsch. naturf. Freunde zu Berlin La Condamine (M6m. de I'Acad. royale des 

 Magaz. i. (1807) 60. Sciences, ann^e 1738). But the cure of the 



3 Reiae in Chile, Peru, etc. ii. (1836) 222. countess was known in Europe much before 

 * Blue Book — East India Chinchona this, for it is mentioned by Sebastiano 



Plant, 1863. 74. 75. Bado in his Anastasis, Corticis Perutnce, seu 



^ Travels in Peru and India, 1862. 2. Chinee Chinee de/ensio published at Genoa 



8 Quoted by Weddell in his Bist. des in 1663. When Bado wrote, it was a de- 



Quinquinas, p. 15, from De Jussieu's un- bated question whether the bark was intro- 



published MS. — The town of Loxa or Loja duced to' Europe by the count of Chinchon 



was founded by the Spaniards in 1546. or by the Jesuit Fathers. 



