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 produced by the tree which 

 has since been named Cinchona Condaminea 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, Ruiz and Pavon were appointed to accompany it in the 



