SPURIOUS  winter's  bark. 
7 
Dr.  Stark  says  of  the  Copalchi  bark,  that  the  medicinal  prac- 
titioners of  Chili,  in  the  treatment  of  intermittent  and  other 
fevers,  esteem  the  bark  more  valuable  than  the  cinchona,  and 
that  he  had  administered  it  himself,  and  found  it  to  be  useful  in 
atony  of  the  stomach  and  bowels,  with  weak  and  imperfect  di- 
gestion and  irregular  action  of  the  bowels  ;  and,  in  such  cases, 
found  it  superior  to  the  usual  bitters,  as  gentian,  quassia,  Peru- 
vian bark,  &c. 
Next,  as  to  the  sources  of  the  bark  and  its  botanical  origin,  Dr. 
Ure  states  that  it  is  obtained  from  a  tree  in  New  Granada. 
Dr.  Hamilton  quotes  from  Spanish  authors  who  state,  that  it 
is  found  in  the  province  of  Carthagena,  and  is  of  common  occur- 
rence, and  may,  no  doubt,  be  found  throughout  the  whole  littoral 
chain,  which  stretches  from  the  Punta  Paria  in  the  East  to  the 
Gulf  of  Maracaibo,  and  thence  westward  through  the  provinces 
of  Santa  Martha  and  Carthagena  to  the  Gulf  of  Darien  ;  and, 
as  the  flora  of  Trinidad  is  but  an  extension  of  that  continent,  it 
is  by  no  means  improbable  that  it  is  a  denizen  of  those  forests. 
The  Copalchi  is  common  in  Chili  and  Peru,  and  in  the  drug  shops 
of  Jalapa,  and  Pereira  mentions  a  shipment  of  this  bark  from 
Peru  to  Hamburg  through  Liverpool  in  1827,  part  of  which  was 
shipped  at  Pataya  and  Guyaquil.  Of  the  botanical  description  of 
these  barks  I  can  glean  no  positive  information.  Dr.  Ure  says, 
that  authors  believe  the  Malambo  to  be  a  species  of  drymis,  but 
that  M.  Bonpland  regards  it  as  a  quassia,  and  remarks  that  the 
last  is  impossible,  as  none  of  the  quassia  tribe  yet  discovered  are 
possessed  of  any  aroma.  In  Stark's  paper,  it  is,  upon  Spanish 
authority,  said  to  resemble,  both  from  color  and  smell,  the  genus 
Cusparia,  or  the  cinchona  of  Angostura,  which  entered  into  the 
composition  of  the  prescription  of  the  late  Dr.  Mute's  for  the  cure 
of  dysentery. 
Although  he  has  not  been  able  to  lay  his  hands  upon  the 
description  of  Goebel,  Dr.  Stark  says  he  is  satisfied  that  the 
Copalchi  is  the  same  bark  known  in  Europe  since  1825,  and 
described  under  the  names  of  Copalchi  and  Quinia  blanca,  the 
product  of  one  tree,  known  as  the  Crotonsuberosum  by  Humboldt, 
Bonpland,  Kunth,  &c,  Croton  pseudo-china  by  Schlechtendal, 
&c,  and  Croton  cascarilla  by  Prof,  Don.  The  medicinal  pro- 
perties attributed  to  these  barks  in  South  America,  its  general 
