indicate nearly those found when the balance is in good 
_ working condition, and fairly weighted. 
Allthese balances, when in equilibrium, will turn witha 
_ very small additional weight, equal to thevalue of two or 
three divisions, placed in one of the pans. They are 
_ exceedingly sensitive, for the sensibility of a balance is to 
be measured by the least amount of additional weight 
placed in either pan that is sufficient to turn the index- 
pointer from its normal position, when the balance is in 
- equilibrium, and by the greatest amount of deviation 
— from the normal position which is produced by a very 
_ small difference in the weights. 
H. W. CHISHOLM 
(To be continued.) 
q CINCHONA CULTURE* 
ew subjects have been so frequently before pharma- 
ceutical readers during the past ten or fifteen years 
| as the efforts of the governments of Holland and Great 
' Britain to introduce the various species of Cinchona 
into their respective colonies. It would be hardly pos- 
sible to overrate the importance of the enterprise, and it is 
S one that interests alike the pharmaceutist, the botanist, 
' and the votary of economic science. The records of pro- 
gress which have been made public are so scattered and 
| unconnected, the opinions and reports so conflicting, that 
| it has been difficult for the general reader to retain the 
| thread of the story or to arrive at any very clear estimate 
of the present position and prospects of the undertaking. 
' The earliest steps in this great experiment in acclima- 
_ tisation date back to a period before that which we have 
hhad under review, but so far as results are concerned, 
the subject is one which pertains essentially to the past 
' few years, and I propose to place before you, in as few 
"words as may be, and unencumbered by the contro- 
| versial matter with which its literature abounds, an out- 
line of the beginning of the enterprise and of its present 
practical aspect. 
The initiative in Cinchona cultivation was taken, as you 
_ well know, by the Dutch Government, whose efforts were 
_ directed toits introduction into the Islandof Java. The first 
-Cinchona trees which were sent out to that colony were a 
| few specmens of C. Cadésaya + raised from seeds collected 
by M. Weddell in Bolivia, and forwarded by a firm of 
“Murserymen in Paris in exchange for rare Javan plants. 
In the same year, 1852, the Dutch Government were 
_ induced to send M. Hasskarl, a gentleman previously 
attached to the Botanic Gardens at Buitzenorg, on a mis- 
_ sion to South America, for the purpose of collecting plants 
and seeds. During the two years following M. Hasskarl 
~ pursued his labours, and succeeded in forwarding consign- 
_ ments from some parts of Peru, the Cinchona districts of 
Bolivia being for the most part closed against him; and 
his efforts were supplemented as to the New Granada 
" species by the assistance of Dr. Karsten. The resulting 
collections were sent in part direct to Java, and the re- 
mainder to Amsterdam for re-shipment. I need not dwell 
on the mishaps and disappointments inevitable in so new 
and difficultan enterprise—it is sufficient tonote that within 
three or four years, that is by the middle of 1856, upwards 
of 250 plants, almost exclusively of two species, C. Pahu- 
_ diana and C, Calisaya, were flourishing in the Java plan- 
tation as the outcome of the expedition. In the same 
year, with wise forethought, an accomplished chemist, 
Dr. De Vrij, was sent out to conduct chemical obser- 
vations on the growing barks. 
We may pass over the Jong series of troubles that 
attended the early efforts of those in charge of the trees, 
* From the Address delivered at the Pharmaceutical Conference, Bradford, 
by Henry B. Brady, F.L.S., F.S.C,, President. v 
+ My friend, J. E. Howard, F.L.S,, to whose kind revision subsequent 
phs owe any scientific value they possess, tells me that, accuratel 
speaking, these were C. Cadisaya, and var. Yosephiana. 
NATURE 
305 
the ravages of insects, the destruction of youug plants by 
rats, the devastation committed by wild cattle and rhi- 
noceroses, and, above all, the difficulties dependent on 
climate, which eventually necessitated the transplantation 
of nearly the whole of the trees from the locality first 
chosen, on the north side of the mountain range, to one 
with a southern aspect. We will pass on, I say, to the 
year 1863, and we shall find that the total number of Cin- 
chona trees in Java was then 1,151,810, Of these about 
99 per cent. were of the species know as C. Pahudiana, 
the remainder comprising about 12,000 of C. Ca/isaya and 
trifling numbers of four other species. This proportion 
was unfortunate, for the bark of C. Pahudiana was found 
to be deficient in alkaloids, and therefore supposed to be 
valueless, and by decrees dated 1862 and 1864 its further 
culture was ordered to be forthwith stopped. 
We may now turn to the steps taken by the British 
Government in the same direction. 
Dr. Ainsley, in his work on “ Materia Medica,” was 
perhaps the first to suggest the idea of the acclimatis- 
ation of the Cinchona in India, and, as early as 1839, 
Dr. Forbes Royle especially indicated the Neilgherry and 
Silhet mountains as eligible for the experiment. Appeals 
were subsequently made to the East India Company by 
Mr. Grant and Dr. Falconar, with the object of inducing 
them to take up the matter, and in 1852 instructions were 
sent to the British consular agents in South America to 
endeavour to procure seeds of the various species, but 
without much real effect. Dr. Royle, as Reporter on the 
Products of India, continued to urge the subject on the 
attention of Government up to the time of his death, and 
eventually, in 1859, at the instance of his successor in 
office, Dr. Forbes Watson, the services of Mr. Clements 
R. Markham were called into request by the home 
authorities. 
Mr. Markham proposed a fourfold expedition to South 
America, and his scheme was at last sanctioned by the 
Secretary of State for India, and ordered to be carried 
out. The first portion of the expedition was directed ta 
Bolivia and Caravaya, the region of Cinchona Calisayo 
and C. micrantha (var. Boliviana), Secondly, Huanuco 
and Huamalies were to be searched for C. wé¢ida and 
C. glandulifera Thirdly, Cuenca and Loxa in the Re- 
public of Ecuador for C. Chahuarguera, C. Uritusinga, and 
C. Condaminea ; and lastly, New Granada as the habitat 
of C. pitayo and C. Jancifolia. Mr. Pritchett and Mr. 
Spruce were appointed coadjutors to Mr. Markham, and 
the expeditions set out in 1859, the latter gentleman pro- 
ceeding to the northern part of Bolivia, the district of the 
yellow barks; Mr. Spruce to the mountain region of 
Chimborazo, in quest of red cinchonas; Mr, Pritchett 
taking the grey bark forests of Huanuco, in the north of 
Peru. The perils encountered by these travellers, the 
hardships they endured, the disappointments they suf- 
fered, form a chapter in the history of travel. But illness 
and privation, bad roads, and even native jealousies left un- 
affected the general success of the expedition, and though, 
unfortunately, the plants collected at great risk by Mr. 
Markham, including many of the best species of Bolivia, 
perished in the Red Sea in their transit to India, leaving 
no survivors, it is to the work accomplished by these 
three enthusiastic labourers that we owe the basis of our 
present Cinchona plantations, In 1860, the Ootamacund 
station was established, and the following year the 
number of young Cinchona trees was reported to be 1,128. 
Under the excellent care of Mr. Mclvor these had been 
increased in 1863, the date to which I have brought my 
account of the Java plantations, to 248,166, 
It is no part of my purpose to enter into minutia of 
history, nor to do more than associate with the first steps 
in Cinchona culture the names of Messrs. Hasskarl and 
Markham, Spruce, and Pritchett as travellers, those of 
Dr. De Vrij and Mr. John Eliot Howard as advisers in 
technical details, and more recently, Messrs, McIvor and 
