SUPPLY OF PERUVIAN BARK. 
24 » 
flat and quill bark packed in serons, and imitating to a considerable extent the 
prima facie appearance of Calisaya bark. It is probable that, from this cause, 
it has excited high anticipations on the part of the importers, which are scarcely 
destined to be realized. The examination for alkaloids shows the same propor¬ 
tion to be contained in the flat and in the quill portions of the bark, evidently 
from the same tree ; the chief difference in the chemical contents appearing in 
the greater abundance of chincho-tannic acid in the quills. The alkaloids 
weighed as first precipitated, gave in each case twenty-eight grains per 1000, 
the larger portion of which consisted of the quinidine of Pasteur, together with 
chinchonine, and a very small percentage of quinine. 
The novel course which this bark has travelled suggests questions as to its 
origin, which can only be answered hypothetically. When Mr. Pritchett was 
in Huanuco in 1860, he says, “ The expectations of the inhabitants were at the 
highest respecting the future prosperity of the city, on account of a grand road , 
which teas already commenced !, for connecting the province of Huanuco with the 
river Ucayali, the largest and most important of the southern tributaries of the 
Amazon.” It is, then, not improbable that we have some of the first results in 
the present importations. It is not the first time that bark has been sent down 
this river-navigation of some thousand miles to the Atlantic. 
The produce of the forest of Huanuco has often been attempted to be passed 
off for Calisaya (as I have described under the head C. nitida in my ‘Illustrations 
of Pavon’s Quinologia’). I have specimens of this dated as far back as 1846. In 
MM. Delondre and Bouchardat’s ‘ Quinologie ’ will be found very full informa¬ 
tion on this subject, under the head Quinquina Huanuco plat, p. 27, also pi. iv. 
M. Delondre says, “ No species resembles more, at first sight, the bark of Bolivia, 
and for a long period those who collected it sold it as true Calisaya. It is 
doubtless the species described by Ruiz and Pavon as the C. nitida , and to which 
they attributed a very superior quality. The surface is of a tawny yellow, 
uniform with longitudinal marks, less distinct than the Calisaya. The texture 
of the inner surface is less compact than this last. The transverse fracture is 
of a more pink colour, the fibres are shorter, but do not easily detach themselves. 
When chewed, the bitterness readily developes itself ; the taste is slightly poig¬ 
nant without astringency.” This description, together with M. Delondre’s plate, 
accord sufficiently well with the present specimens (presented to the Pharmaceu¬ 
tical Museum)* to allow of its being produced by the same tree, of which (C. 
nitida') Mr. Pritchett brought back a tine but perhaps slightly varied specimen 
from Tingo, some thirty miles lower down the river than Huanuco, and possibly 
the site of the present gathering. 
I think, therefore, that we must in all probability seek for the source of the 
present importation in the nitida barks of the Huanuco district. At the same 
time, it is not at all improbable that other species of bark may find their way, 
ultimately, down the numerous affluents of the mighty Maranon, even from the 
forests of Bolivia and of Cochabamba. The present will scarcely repay the im¬ 
porters. M. Delondre gives, as the result of some experience, the produce as 
fifteen to twenty grammes of sulphate of quinine, and eight to ten grammes of 
chinchonine per kilogramme; a produce which accords very well with that which 
I have found in the present parcel, bearing in mind that M. Delondre includes 
quinidine under the head quinine , as he himself tells us (pp. 30, 37),—a fact which 
detracts from the value of his otherwise very valuable work. 
* These specimens were exhibited at the meeting, and their characteristics briefly 
alluded to by Professor Bentley. 
