March i8, 1875 J 



NA TURE 



383 



the remoter yet not less real economy which is found in 

 increased knowledge of the Nature about us, and in the 

 advancement of^education, the reasons for Survey this are 

 very strong." 



THE COUNTESS OF CHINCH ON 



A Memoir of the Lady Ana de Osorio, Counless of 



Chinchon and Vicc-Qufcn of Pa it; with a plea for tltc 



correct spelling of the Chinchona genus. By C. R. 



]\Iarkham, C.B., F.R.S. (London : Triibner and Co.) 



THIS work is an attractive addition to the early history 

 of quinine and the other alkaloids derived from 

 the same source. The general subject is full of interest 

 to numerous classes of the community, and the importa- 

 tion of plants into our Indian possessions has been the 

 subject of much attention on the part of our Government. 

 Indeed, it was the result of the author's exertions that 

 living specimens were obtained in this country, and by 

 this means that India was supplied ; it is therefore 

 natural that he should take a parental interest in this 

 matter. 



The knowledge of the efficacy of these drugs was 

 brought to Europe in the year 1640 by the Countess of 

 Chinchon on her return to Spain with her husband at the 

 expiration of his term of office as Viceroy of Peru. This 

 lady during her residence there was attacked by tertian 

 fever, and after being reduced to the point of death, was, 

 under romantic circumstances related by the author, 

 cured by the use of Peruvian bark. On the return of the 

 count and countess to the castle of Chinchon, it is gratify- 

 ing to read that the countess, who had brought with her 

 a supply of the precious bark which had effected such a 

 wonderful cure upon herself, " administered Peruvian 

 bark to the sufferers from tertian agues on her lord's 

 estates in the fertile but unhealthy legas of the Tagus, 

 the Jarama, and the Tajuna. She thus spread blessings 

 around her, and her good deeds are even now remem- 

 bered by the people of Chinchon and Colmenar in local 

 traditions " (p. 45). 



Though from time to time during the succeeding hun- 

 dred years powders of the Peruvian bark were imported 

 into Europe, it seems that no scientific account of the 

 tree was published until 1740, in which year De la Con- 

 damine published a description and figure in the Me- 

 moirs of the Academy of Paris for 1738, under the 

 generic name of (Juinquina. This communication con- 

 tained also an account of the history of the drug, 

 wherein the name of the Countess of Chinchon was duly 

 mentioned and properly spelt, and on the information 

 obtained from it and quoted in acknowledgment, Lin- 

 nxus, in the second edition of his " Genera Plantarum," 

 published at Lcyden in the year 1742, founded his genus 

 Cinchona in honour of the Countess of Chinchon. 



The author commences his book by tracing the pedi- 

 grees, accompanied by coloured illustrations of the 

 armorial bearings, of the families of Ana, Countess of 

 Chinchon, and of the Count of Chinchon ; nor does he 

 omit to describe and illustrate the town, neighbourhood, 

 and castle of Chinchon. The town contains some 6,000 

 souls, and its distance south-east from Madrid is given as 

 twenty-four miles. 



But it is resetved to the end of the book to treat of a 



matter which evidently lies deeply seated in the author's 

 affections ; unless for its sake the book would probably 

 never have been written. This is a vigorous argument, 

 called in the title a plea, for what he considers to be the 

 correct spelling of the generic name. 



The author's object is to prove that the name Cinchona 

 should be replaced by Chinchona, and he argues that the 

 latter form is etymologically right, that Linnaeus was mis- 

 informe'd as to the true spelling of the countess's title, 

 that it is supported by the majority of authorities who 

 have studied the genus in its native habitat, and is now 

 the form in common use where the plant is cultivated, as 

 well as in official correspondence, and that it is conse- 

 quently the most convenient form. He further states that 

 the former spelling has never been generally adopted. 



In the matter of etymology the author is certainly 

 right, but neither botanists nor the public are simply led 

 by this rule when more important considerations require 

 a different course ; botanists have greater regard to pri- 

 ority and the public to general convenience, and both in 

 respect of priority and convenience Cinchona is the more 

 correct word. 



It has been already explained that Linna;us was not mis- 

 informed as to the spelling of Chinchon ; and it is there- 

 fore probable that he considered euphony in forming the 

 name, in accordance with his aphorisms : Terminatio 

 et Sonus nominum genericorum, quantum fieri possit, 

 facilitanda sunt. Nomina generica sesquipedalia, enun- 

 ciatu difficilia vel nauseabunda fugienda sunt. Thus, in 

 honour of Barrelierus, Linnreus named Barleria, and in 

 many other cases he sacrificed strict etymology to 

 elegance and convenience. 



Mr. Hanbury, in the Athcnceuni for January 30, has 

 shown that, in the course of a long correspondence with 

 Linnajus, Mutis, though in his earlier letters he spelt the 

 name Chinchona, yet in his later letters he followed the 

 spelling of Linnasus, and wrote Cinchona ; also, that in 

 1758, J. Ch. Petersen read at Upsala an academical dis- 

 sertaticm, ^'' De Cortice Peruviana" Linnaeus presiding, 

 and in this paper he always spelt the word Chinchona; 

 this is, however, not a botanical essay. 



Linnaeus, in all his other works and editions, always 

 retains his original spelling. The author erroneously 

 states that Linnteus altered the spelling in his dilferent 

 editions, and draws the inference that LinuKus was 

 willing to modify his original spelling and desired to spell 

 the word correctly. In the sixth edition of the " Genera 

 riantarum," published at Stockholm in 1764, on p. 91 the 

 word is accidentally spelt Cinhona, but this was clearly a 

 typographical error ; for in the synopsis of the genera of 

 Pentandria, on p. 69, it is spelt Cinchona, and so again 

 in the index to the volume ; and if further proof is wanted, 

 the error on p. 91 was given in the errata and corrected. 

 In the edition of 1767, printed at Vienna, which is without 

 the authority of Linnaus, and is, in fact, only a reprint of 

 the sixth edition, the same spellings occur in each place, 

 except that we find in the errata, Cinbona (instead of 

 Cinhoiia) corrected into Cinchona. 



So universal was the authority of the Linnsan spelling, 

 that no botanical treatise published and adopted a diffe- 

 rent one until the year 1862. The name Chinchona does 

 not occur in Steudel's " Nomenclator Botanicus," second 

 edition, pubhshed in 1840-41. 



