52 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



newspapers, " The Mercurius Politiciis," con- 

 tained an advertisement offering for sale " an ex- 

 cellent substance known by the name of Jesuit's 

 Powder." which had been brought over by an 

 Antwerp merchant. A Dr. Talbor used the remedy 

 largely in the reign of Charles II., the king him- 

 self being cured of fever by its aid. This ph)-sician 

 also had the good fortune to cure the Dauphin of 

 France, which brought him into favour with Louis 

 XIV., who paid him 2,000 loi:is d'or and an annual 

 pension of 2,000 livres to publish his mode of treat- 

 ment. This was found to consist of the adminis- 

 tration of the bark infused in wine — something 

 similar to the quinine wine of the present day. The 

 particulars of the remedy were published in England 

 in 1682, and since that time Cinchona bark has been 

 accepted into the domain of regular medicine. 



The hardships of the collectors in the primeval 

 forests were of the severest kind. They were prin- 

 cipally natives in the pay of speculators and com- 

 panies, who were termed cascarilleros, from the 

 Spanish word cascara, signifying bitter. Having 

 selected the tree, its stem generally had to be freed 

 from the climbing and other plants with which it 

 was encircled, and after beating, the sapless outer 

 bark was readily removed. Then by transverse 

 and longitudinal incisions the valuable inner bark 

 was stripped as high as could be reached. After 

 felling, the peeling was completed and the bark 

 dried either by natural or artificial heat. That 

 from the smaller branches rolled up into quills or 

 tubes similar to cinnamon bark, that from the 

 trunk was made to dry flat by being weighted. It 

 was then known as table bark. Formerly the root 

 bark was neglected, but even that is now largely 

 used bv the alkaloid manufacturer. It was con- 

 veyed to the coast in serons of raw bullocks' hide, 

 each weighing about one hundred pounds. 



The above reckless system of bark cutting and 

 collection, resulting as it did in some districts in 

 the extinction of the trees, aroused the attention of 

 European botanists. About the year r83o its cul- 

 tivation on a large scale was attempted in other 

 countries. After several unsuccessful trials the 

 Dutch Government in t834 shipped forty-one cases 

 of young plants to Java, but with every care they 

 did not reach their destination in good condition, 

 so at the end of two years, only about one-third 

 were alive. It was soon discovered that the col- 

 lection of the seeds was the more satisfactory plan, 

 • •and by this method the plants grew and flourished 

 in the hilly parts of North-West India and the 

 Madras Presidency, so that in r866 there were more 

 than one-and-a-half million plants on the Neil- 

 gherry hills alone. Since 1867 the bark has 

 reached us from these plantations in ever-increasing 

 quantities. For many years Ceylon has also pro- 

 duced large supplies. In India it was found that 

 if at the end of eight or nine years the trees were 

 cut down the yotinger shoots yielded very fine 

 bark. A system of " mossing " was introduced by 

 Mclvor, who enveloped the growing shoots with a 

 layer of damp moss. The yield of alkaloid was 



increased by this treatment, and the growth of re- 

 newed bark promoted. Another plan of mossing 

 is to remove longitudinal strips of the bark and 

 cover the exposed portions with moss. Later the 

 unstripped parts are treated in a similar manner, 

 and a large yield of bark obtained without de- 

 stroying the trees or their vitality. 



Without taking into consideration those alka- 

 loids unimportant from a commercial standpoint, 

 and which are only contained to a very small extent 

 in certain species, the four principal ones are 

 quinine, quinidine, cinchonine and cinchonidine. 

 Certain secondary principles are also developed 

 during the treatment of the bark, the principal 

 being a substance known as quinoidine. This con- 

 sists of resinous and colouring matters, with the 

 alkaloids more or less changed by the heat acids 

 and chemical treatment to which they have been 

 .subjected. This body, also known as amorphous 

 quinine, is obtained from the liquors from which 

 sulphate of quinine has been crystallised, and bears 

 about the same relation to true quinine as un- 

 crystallised sugar does to commercial sugar. It is 

 found that different barks derived from the same 

 species vary greatly in richness of alkaloids, and 

 that equal fluctuations occur in their relative pro- 

 portion. As much as 13 per cent, of total alka- 

 loids have been found in some specimens, whilst 

 in others they are altogether absent. The alka- 

 loid principally used in medicine in this country is 

 quinine, in the form of the sulphate, but as most 

 barks also contain large quantities of cinchonine 

 and cinchonidine, uses have been found for these, 

 principally in India. In fact, the whole four have 

 very similar medicinal properties, and by some 

 authorities quinidine has been credited with being 

 more active than quinine itself. 



Cinchonine, and probably the other alkaloids, 

 yield when distilled with caustic potash an oily 

 liquid choline, a body tha't exists in coal tar, and 

 which forms with acids, crystalline salts. Im- 

 ported cinchona bark is never uniform in quality, 

 in the amount of alkaloid it contains, and a sample 

 of every bale or seron is analysed before it is 

 offered for sale. Its value is regulated by the 

 amount of quinine it yields, the price being stated 

 in " units," that is, so much per pound for every 

 percentage of quinine it contains, a bark yielding 

 5 per cent, at a penny per unit would be worth five- 

 pence per pound. 



The alkaloids are according to Howard chiefly 

 contained in the cellular tissue, but no definite 

 knowledge has yet been obtained of the exact steps 

 by which it is formed, nor have the numerous en- 

 deavours made to build up quinine from its ele- 

 ments been attended with any marked success. 

 In the leaves quinine appears to be present in only 

 minute quantities. A larger amount is found in 

 the stem bark, and this slightly increases towards 

 the root, where it again decreases, cinchonine 

 being there present in a larger proportion. 



Among the unimportant alkaloids are quinamine 



