■'^'"iune'issl.''"''}        Botanical  Source  of  Cuprea  Bark.  293 
-Meta  and  Guaviare,  affluents  of  the  river  Orinoco,  and  these  barks 
pass  in  commerce  under  the  same  name  as  those  first  discovered. 
The  cuprea  bark  at  present  in  commerce  is  therefore  furnished  by 
two  very  distinct  regions  :  the  one,  just  described,  in  the  great  basin 
•of  the  river  Orinoco,  to  the  South  of  Bogota,  and  the  otlier,  which  was 
the  one  first  explored,  in  the  lower  part  of  the  basin  of  the  Magdalena 
river. 
Amongst  the  numerous  cuprea  barks  received  from  Bucaramanga, 
or  the  northern  region,  there  is  occasionly  found  a  relatively  small 
quantity,  which  has  been  discovered  by  M.  Arnaud  to  be  peculiar  in 
containing,  in  place  of  quinine,  a  new  alkaloid  which  he  has  called 
cinchonamine. 
Professor  Planchon  has  also  observed  that  the  anatomical  structure 
•of  the  bark  containing  cinchonamine  differs  from  that  of  ordinary 
cuprea  bark,  and  has  compared  it  to  that  of  a  Cascarilla.  He  con- 
cludes that  if  the  cuprea  barks  have  characters  in  common  which 
place  them  outside  the  geims  Cinchona,  they  also  present  between  them- 
selves such  differences  that  they  ought  to  be  considered  to  form  specifi- 
cally distinct  types. 
Hitherto,  the  plant  or  plants  which  produce  cuprea  barks  have  been 
unknown  to  science,  although  the  barks  have  taken  so  considerable  a 
place  in  commerce  and  in  the  manufacture  of  sulphate  of  quinine. 
Desiring  to  fill  up  this  gap  from  a  botanical  point  of  view,  I  made 
strenuous  efforts  to  obtain  in  Columbia,  specimens  of  the  2)lants  yielding 
the  cuprea  barks,  and  my  efforts  have  been  in  great  measure  crowned 
with  success.  I  have  just  received  documents  from  the  two  centres  of 
collection  above  named,  which,  now  enable  me  to  determine  and  classify 
the  trees  which  furnish  the  cuprea  cinchona,  and  to  establish  their 
botanical  nomenclature.  This  classification  and  other  facts  shortly  to 
be  mentioned  raise  points  which  seem  to  me  to  be  of  the  highest  inter- 
est in  relation  to  science,  commerce,  and  the  cultivation  of  cinchonas, 
and  to  these  points  I  have  now  to  call  attention. 
The  barks  distributed  in  commerce  at  the  present  time  under  the 
name  of  cuprea  bark  are  afforded  by  two  distinct  districts.  They  also 
belong  respectively,  at  least,  to  two  distinct  species  which,  though  nearly 
allied,  are  yet  different  from  each  other  and  belong  to  the  genus 
Remijia,  which  comes  very  near  that  of  Cinchona  and  to  the  closely 
allied  genus  ('ascarilla.  These  species  are  Remijia.  Purdieana,  Wt^dd. 
*:("Ann.  8c.  Nat."  [}V\,  xi.,  p.  277),  a  plant  formerly  discovered  by 
