CORTEX CINCHONiE, 345 



For the first accurate information on the botany of Cinchona, science 

 is indebted to the French.^ 



Charles-Marie de la Condamine, while occupied in common with 

 Bouguer and Godin, as an astronomer from 1736 to 1743, in measuring 

 the arc of a degree near Quito, availed himself of the opportunity to 

 investigate the origin of the famous Peruvian Bark. On the 3rd and 

 4th of February, 1737, he visited the Sierra de Cajanuma, 2^ leagues 

 from Loxa, and there collected specimens of the tree now known as 

 Cinchaaa officinalis var. a. Condaminea. At that period the very 

 large trees had already become rare, but there were still specimens 

 having trunks thicker than a man's body. Cajanuma was the home of 

 the fiirst cinchona bark brought to Europe; and in early times it 

 enjoyed such a reputation, that certificates drawn up before a notaiy 

 were provided as proof that parcels of bark were the produce of that 

 favoured locality. 



Joseph de Jussieu, botanist to the French expedition with which La 

 Condamine was connected, gathered, near Loxa in 1739, a second 

 Cinchona subsequently named by Vahl G. puibescenSy a species of no 

 medicinal value. 



In 1742 Linnaeus established the genus Cinchona; and in 1753 

 first described the species C. officinalis, recently restored and exactly 

 characterized by Hooker, aided by specimens supplied to him by Mr. 

 Howard. 



The cinchona trees were believed to be confined to the region around 

 Loxa, until 1752 when Miguel de Santisteban, superintendent of the 

 mint at Santa Fd, discovered some species in the neighbourhood of 

 Popayan and Pasto. 



In 1761 Josd Celestino Mutis, physician to the Marquis de la Vega, 

 viceroy of New Granada, arrived at Carthagena from Cadiz, and 

 immediately set about collecting materials for writing a Flora of the 

 country. This undertaking he carried on with untiring energ}-, 

 especially from the year 1782 until the end of his life in 1808, — 

 first for seven years at Ileal del Sapo and Mariquita at the foot of 

 the Cordillera de Quindiu, and subsequently at Santa Fe de Bogota. 

 Mutis gave up his medical appointment in 1772, for the purpose of 

 entering a religious order, and ten years later was entrusted by the 

 Government with the establishment and direction of a large museum of 

 natural history, first at Mariquita, afterwards at Santa F^. 



A position similar to that of Mutis in New Granada had also been 

 conferred in 1777 on the botanists Hipolito Ruiz and Jose Pa von with 

 regard to southern Peru, whence originated the weU-known Flora 

 Peruvians et Chilensis,^ as well as most important direct contributions 

 to our knowledge on the subject of Cinchona. 



About the same time (1776), Renquizo (Renquifo or Renjifo) found 

 cinchona trees in the neighbourhood of Huanuco, in the central tract 



^ Sur Farbre de Quinquina par M. de la venience of changing so well-established 



Condamine — M6m. de CAcadimie royale des a name and its many derivatives, has out- 



Sciences pour Fannde 1738. pp. 226-243, weighed these considerations.— See list of 



with two plates. works relating to Cinchona at the end of 



2 Markham has vigorously contended the present article, 



that the name Cinchona should be alteretl » Published at Madrid, 1798-1802, in 4 



to Chinchona as better commemorating the volumes folio, with 425 plates, 

 countess of Chinchon. But the incon- 



