210 
Selections, 
[no. 2, NEW SERIES, 
The Quina Bark was first brought to Europe in 1640 by Juan de 
Vega, physician of the Conde de Chinchon to whom it had been 
sent in 1688 by an officer in the interior of the province, the Corre- 
gidor Don Francesco Lopez Canizares, but for a long time the 
tree which produced the drug remained unknown. In 1735 the 
Academy of Sciences having obtained the appointment of the com- 
mission to measure an arc of the meridian at the equator under 
the direction of M. de la Condamine, Joseph Jussieu was attached 
to it as Naturalist. He visited the forests of Loxa and Upper 
Peru from which the largest quantity of the febrifuge bark was ex- 
ported and first ascertained that it was J>roduced by the tree which 
has since been named Cinchona CondamincT, by Humboldt. But un- 
fortunately the results of his researches were never published. He 
did not return home till 1771 and then in a state of mental inca- 
pacity which totally unfitted him for literary labor. La Conda- 
mine however gave a general account of their discoveries in 1738. 
For a long time the market continued to be supplied from this 
single source, but so great was the destruction of trees, 25,000 
having, according to Humboldt, (1779,) been destroyed in one year, 
that the C. Condaminea became extremely scarce and the dealers 
having taken to adulterating the article with other barks, it fell into 
disrepute. The trade gradually diminished and Loxa itself sank 
into decay. 
A new source of supply was opened by the discovery of several 
kinds of Cinchona in the forests of New Granada and a trade in 
barks sprung up at Carthagena after the middle of the last century. 
The Marquis de la Vega appointed Viceroy of New Granada in 
1760 was accompanied by Don Jose Celestin Mutis who ear- 
nestly applied himself to develop the resources of the province. 
He made known the existence of bark yielding trees in the vicinity 
of Santa Fe de Bogata and was appointed to the charge of the 
forests in which office he was found by Humboldt when he visited 
that part of S. America. 
A few years later the Spanish Government having organized an 
expedition to explore the productions of their American possessions 
Messrs. Iluiz and Pavon were appointed to accompany it in the 
