637 



II. Yello^r barks. 



8. Hard Carthagena bark. C. cordifolia. 



9. Fibrous ditto. Perhaps C. cordifolia. 



10. Cuzco bark. C. sp. f 



11. Orange bark of Santa Fe. C. lancifolia. 



III. Eed barks. 



12. Eed bark of Santa Fe. C. Gblongifolia. 



The genus Exostemma yields various kinds of false cinchona 

 bark, Avhich do not contain the cinchona alkalies. The following 

 are some of the kinds noticed by Pereira : — 



1. St. Lucia or Piton bark. Exostemma floribundv.m. 



2. Jamaica bark. B. caribaeum. 



3. Pitaya bark. E. sj) ? 



4. False Peruvian bark. E. peruviamim. 



5. Brazilian bark. E. souzianum. 



The mode adopted by the bark-peelers of obtaining cinchona 

 varies somewhat in different districts. The Indians (says Mr. 

 Stevenson, "Twenty Tears' Eesidence in South America") dis- 

 cover from the eminences where a cluster of trees grow in the 

 woods, for they are easily discernable by the rose-colored tinge of 

 their leaves, which appear at a distance like bunches of flowers 

 amid the deep -green foliage of other trees. They then hunt for 

 the spot, and having found it out, cut down all the trees, and take 

 the bark from the branches, and after they have stripped off" the 

 bark, they carry it in bundles out of the wood, for the purpose 

 of drying it. The peelers commence their operation about May, 

 when the drv season sets in. Some writers state that the trees 

 are barked without felling. 



In a letter published in one of the Calcutta papers not long- 

 ago, from the pen, I believe, of Mr. Piddington, he strongly 

 urged the introduction of the cinchona tree into British India : — 



There is (he observes) one tree, the introduction and the copious distribution 

 of which within certain appropriate points of the sub-Himalayan range, would 

 confer a greater blessing on the great body of natives, than any effort the 

 Government has made or can make, and that is the cinchona bark tree. 



AYithout any reference to the greater or less force of medical theories as to 

 the efficacy of cinchona bark, I now only take an experienced and practical 

 view, w^ell knowing that the sufferings of many millions of poor and rich 

 natives, especially in the jungle districts, are yearly very great, and the mortality 

 quite enormous from remittent and intermittent fevers, by far the greater part 

 of which would be immensely relieved, or wholly cured, by the free use of 

 cinchona bark. 



If by abundance the price be once brought within the poor native's reach, 

 he will readily take to it, having no objection v/liatever on account of caste to 

 anything of the nature of the bark of a tree. 



If the cinchona tree were once growing in abundance, quinine could, be easily 

 prepared in India, from the facility of procuring, and cheapness of spirits of 

 wine used in the process of its elimination. 



I take it that every hundred Sepahees sick of fevers remaining in hospital 

 off duty for thirty days, drawing an average pay of eight rupees each, form a 

 full monthly loss to Government of eight hundred rupees ; while a free use of 

 quinine and bark Avould cure them in ten days on the average, costing at present 

 about forty rupees ; thus by the twenty days' services gained, Governn.ent 

 would save nearly five hundred rupees. 



