"""junerisS™'}        Botanical  Source  of  Ciiprea  Bark.  299 
those  intertropical  countries  where  the  cultivation  of  the  cinchona 
would  be  impossible.  The  cultivation  of  the  cinchonas  in  the  old 
world  will  also  be  affected  in  consequence. 
As  to  the  commerce  in  bark  it  has  already  found  in  the  genus  Remijia 
new  sources  of  enterprise  in  the  peculiar  conditions  and  circumstances 
of  its  vegetation^  which  are,  as  already  remarked,  diiferent  from  those 
of  Cinchona,  and  these  may  be  still  further  increased  by  the  possible 
discovery  of  febrifuge  alkaloids  in  other  known  species  of  the  same 
genus,  natives  of  Brazil,  Ecuador  and  Peru,  or  in  new  ones  which  may 
yet  be  found.  Probably  also  investigation  will  be  made  of  species  of 
other  genera  allied  to  Cinchona  which  have  long  been  overlooked.' 
I  have  already  remarked  that  the  enormous  exportations  of  cuprea 
bark  that  have  been  made  recently  have  produced  a  disturbance  in 
commerce,  which  has  lowered  the  price  of  the  officinal  cinchonas  in 
general  and  of  sulphate  of  quinine  in  particular,  by  the  accumulation 
in  Europe  of  barks  intended  for  the  manufacture  of  suphate  of  quinine 
and  by  the  temporary  stoppage  of  the  exportation  of  cinchona  barks. 
This  paralysis  of  business  is  aggravated  in  Columbia  by  the  temporary 
neglect  of  agriculture,  the  collection  of  the  cuprea  bark  proving  much 
more  lucrative,  and  also  by  the  stagnation  of  capital  represented  by 
the  value  of  the  bark  warehoused  abroad,  and  which  is  usually  held  as 
a  balance  to  meet  the  cost  of  imported  goods.  It  happens,  therefore, 
that  the  industry  which  ought  to  prove  a  new  source  of  riches  for 
Columbia  has  accidentally  become  a  cause  of  financial  disaster. 
It  may  be  hoped  that  this  situation  cannot  last  long  and  that  by 
degrees  an  equilibrium  will  be  established.  Commercial  men  will 
become  more  prudent,  and  what  is  of  more  significance,  the  cuprea 
barks  will  be  diminished  in  quantity  in  proportion  as  the  sources  of 
production,  already  rapidly  undergoing  devastation,  become  more 
exhausted,  and  the  difficulty  in  collecting  the  bark  becomes  greater,  as 
has  been  the  case  with  the  officinal  cinchonas. 
Finally,  investigations  of  the  therapeutic  properties  of  the  new  alka- 
loids or  compounds  of  alkaloids  discovered  in  the  cuprea  barks  will 
present  considerable  interest.  It  now  appears  more  than  probable  that 
these  alkaloids  or  their  compounds  have  passed  unnoticed  mixed  with 
sulphate  of  quinine  in  the  manufacture  of  this  substance  on  a  large 
scale. 
The  following  is  a  list  of  the  s])ecies  of  Remijia  : — 
