CINCHONA BRACHTCARPA. 213 



No opportunity ought to be omitted that can in any way 

 rnake us more acquainted with this valuable genus Cinchona, 

 the falutary effects of which give a fecurity and comfort to the 

 lives of thofe, in warm and unhealthy climates, beyond any 

 other medicine we know of. This fpecies might be ufed as a 

 fubftitute to the Peruvian bark ; but it is to be regreted, that 

 the tree is fcarce and fmall, and that enough of it cannot be 

 had, at lead in thefe parts *. 



I DO not pretend to hold up this new bark as fuperior, or 

 even equal to the Peruvian. I have given it in the flighter 

 cafes of intermitting and remitting fevers, with good effect ', 

 and in a few inftances, it produced a cure, where the patients 

 had taken the common and red bark to no purpofe. 



To people afflicted with intermittents, I gave of the pow- 

 der from twelve grains to thirty every hour, or every two hours 

 in the abfence of fever. By this means, a flop was put to the 

 fever, and the patients recovered. I have alfo adminiflered 

 this new bark in dyfpepfia, both in powder and infufion. It 

 fat eafy on the ftomach, promoted appetite, and was eafy to 

 take. I had fhewn this fpecies of Cinchona to my good friend 

 Dr Wright, before he left the ifland, and gave him a little of 

 the bark. He gave it in powder to a patient, but found it 

 emetic, which could only happen from fome peculiarity in the 

 constitution f. In his letter to me, he intimates, that proba- 

 bly the fame thing would happen, with every other of this ge- 

 nus, if given before it was completely dried. 



Of 



* This lofs may be compenfated by the abundance of the Cinchona Caribsea feu Ja- 

 maicenfis, defcribed by Dr Wright in the 67th vol. of Phil. Tranf and which, we are 

 aflured, has been found to anfwer all the purpofes of the Cinchona Officinalis. 



\ See Dr Wright's Account of the Medicinal Plants growing in Jamaica, Londcjn 

 Medical Journal, part iii. for 17871, 



