656 
REVIEWS. 
The Quinology of the East Indian Plantations. By John Eliot Howaed, 
E.L.S., F.R.M.S., F.R.H.S., Member of the Pharmaceutical Society of G-reat 
Britain, of the Botanical Society of France, etc. London: Lovell Reeve and Co. 
1869. P.p. x. 43, folio, with three Coloured Plates. 
It has been truly said that whatever spontaneous forest products civilized nations 
derive exclusively from native tribes, will, sooner or later, fail, and recourse must at 
last be had to cultivation. Such is the case with the trees which produce quinine- 
yielding barks. Traveller after traveller has borne witness to the reckless destruction 
of the Cinchona. Delondre and Weddell, during their journeys, both speak of it; the 
latter, in writing ou the subject, says,—“If no means be adopted to arrest this de¬ 
stroying agency, posterity will have to regret, if not the total disappearance, at least 
the gradually-occurring scarcity of the various kinds of quina ;” and again, “ The 
only remedy is cultivation, and it is absolutely necessary to have recourse to it.” 
To Dr. Royle seems due the honour of first advocating the introduction of Cin- 
chonce into India, but it was not till 1859 that active measures were taken in this di¬ 
rection. Mr. C. R. Markham was authorized by Lord Stanley, the Secretary of 
State for India, to make such arrangements as should best ensure the success of the 
enterprise. Such was the enormous consumption of quinine in India, that in 1857 
alone the Indian Government expended no less than £12,000 on this article. Thanks 
to the energy of Mr. Markham, Dr. Spruce, and others connected in the enterprise, 
the introduction of these plants into India was successfully accomplished, and the 
book before us affords evidence of their successful cultivation there. 
The first ten pages are taken up with explanatory matter with regard to the plates. 
ISext follows, “ Part I. Chemical and Microscopical Investigations,” consisting of 
thirty pages, closed by an Appendix and Additions, being extracts from papers and 
correspondence on the subject. 
Under the head of “ Chemical and Microscopical Examinations,” we have much 
interesting matter. In opening, Mr. Howard pays a well-deserved compliment to Mr. 
M Ivor, the Superintendent, and to Mr. Broughton, the Quinologist to the Govern¬ 
ment Cinchona Plantations in the Neilgherriea. Of the latter gentleman he says,— 
“ It may be permitted me, as having previously given what .assistance I could render 
m the analysis of the specimens sent home from various parts of India, to bear my 
unbiassed testimony to Mr. Broughton’s skill and diligence, as evinced by what he 
has already accomplished in a particularly difficult line of chemical investigation.” 
It appears that below 4GOO feet above the sea it is useless to attempt to cultivate 
these plants. According to Mr. M‘Ivor, the Cinchona succirubra has found in the 
Heilgherries a home quite as favourable to its full growth and development as in the 
Andes. This species, together with C. Peruviana and C. micrantha, thrive from 4000 
to 6000 feet; C. officinalis, C. Bonffiandiana, and C. crespilla, from 7000 to 8500 feet. 
It the red bark be cultivated at above 7500 feet, it yields only about 2 per cent, of 
alkaloid, destitute of quinine and quitiidine. 
If the Crown barks, too, be cultivated below 6500 feet, the alkaloidal contents of such 
barks is less, and the quinine replaced by cinchonidine and quinidine. Thus it will 
be seen that great eare is necessary in adapting the plants to the proper elevation. 
The remarks.on “the change of place of growth as affecting successive generations 
of C. officinalis” are very important; indeed, the whole success of the undertaking 
hinges on the satisfactory solution of the question. That by the change no deteriora¬ 
tion of value, but rather the reverse, has taken place, is proved by the following :—In 
18o9, Mr. Howard received seeds and bark of a tree of C. officinalis from Uritusinga 
(Peru). This bark yielded by analysis oxalate of quinine 1*87, cinchonidine 1’20, 
and cinchonine '04. From these seeds plants were raised by Mr. Howard, the bark 
ot which yielded sulphate of quinine 1'36, cinchonicine '57. One of these plants, 
6 feet in height, was given by Mr. Howard to the Indian Government, which, after 
losing all its leaves by sunstroke in India, and with difficulty recovered by Mr. M £ Ivor, 
yielded in India oxalate of quinine 1'40, uncrystallized quinine T7, cinchonicine '79, 
being thus partly grown in England and India. From this plant a third generation 
was reared, which by analysis gave sulphate of quinine 1'75, sulphate of cinchoni¬ 
dine 1-.50, cinchonine '08, thus showing an even greater percentage than the original 
