344 RUBIACE^. 



The drug began to be known in England about 1655.^ The Mer- 

 curius Politicus, one of the earliest English newspapers, contains in 

 several of its numbers for 1658,^ a year remarkable for the preva- 

 lence in England of an epidemic remittent fever, advertisements 

 offering for sale — " the excellent powder known by the name of the 

 Jesuits Powder " — brought over by James Thomson, merchant of 

 Antwerp. 



Brady, professor of physic at Cambridge, prescribed bark about this 

 time ; and in 1660, Willis, a physician of great eminence, reported it as 

 coming into daily use. This is also evidenced, with regard to the 

 continent, by the pharmaceutical tariffs of the cities of Leipzig and Frank- 

 furt of the year 1669, where "China Chinee " has a place. | of an ounce 

 (a " quint ") is quoted in the latter at 50 kreuzers (about Is. 6d.), whereas 

 the same quantity of opium is valued at 4 kreuzers,^ camphor 2 kreuzers, 

 balsam of Peru 8 kreuzers. 



Among those who contributed powerfully to the diffusion of the 

 new medicine, was Robert Talbor alias Tabor. In his "Pyretologia" (see 

 Appendix, T.) he by no means intimates that his method of cure depends 

 on the use of bark. On the contrary, he cautions his readers against 

 the dangerous effects of Jesuits' Powder when administered by unskil- 

 ful persons, yet admits that, properly given, it is a " noble and safe 

 medicine." 



Talbor's reputation increasing, he was appointed in 1678 physician 

 in ordinary to Charles II., and in 1679, the king being ill of tertian 

 fever at Windsor, Talbor cured him by his secret remedy.^ He acquired 

 similar favour in France, and upon Talbor's death (1681), Louis XIV. 

 ordered the publication of his method of cure, which accordingly 

 appeared by Nicolas de Blegny, surgeon to the king.^ This was im- 

 mediately translated into English, under the title of The English 

 Remedy : or, Talbor's Wonderful Secret for Cureing of Agues and 

 Feavers. — Sold by the Author Sir Robert Talbor to the most Christian 

 King, and since his Death, ordered by his Majesty to be published in 

 French, for the benefit of his subjects, and now translated into English 

 for Publick Good (Lond. 1682). 



Cinchona bark was now accepted into the domain of regular medicine, 

 though its efficacy was by no means universally acknowledged. It first 

 appeared in the London Pharmacopoeia in 1677, under the name of 

 Cortex Peruanus. 



quella sia fermata in stato di molti gior- No. 545. Dec. 9-16. — We have examined 



ni. the copy at the British Museum. 



L'esperienza continua, hi liberata quasi ^ p^. Joum. vi. (1876) 1022. 



tutti quelli, che I'hanno presa, purgato * In the Recueil for 1680, p. 275 (see 



prima bene il corpo, e per quattro giorni appendix, Talbor) the king is said to have 



doppo non pigliar' niuna sorte di medica- had another attack of fever at Windsor, 



mento, ma auvertasi di non darla se non for which he took " du Quinquina pr4par6," 



con licenza delli Sig. Medici, acci6 giudi- which again cured him. 

 cano se sia in tempo k proposito di ^ Le Remade anglois pour la guerison des 



pigliarla. fitvres, public par ordre du Boy, avec les 



^ So says Sir G. Baker, who has traced observations de Monsieur le premier Mddecin 



the introduction of Cinchona in a very de sa MajesU, sur la composition, les vertus, 



able paper published in the Medical et F usage de ce remade, par Nicolas de 



Transactions of the College of Physicians Blegny, Chirurgien ordinaire du corps de 



of London, iii. (1785) 141-216. Monsieur, et Directeur de I'Academie des 



2 Namely No. 422. June 24-July 1 ; No. nouvelles d^couvertes de MMecine, Paris, 



426. July 22-29; No. 439. Oct. 21-28. 1682. 12°. 



