ON  A  FALSE  CINCHONA  BARK  OP  INDIA. 
351 
excelsum  (Wallich),  or  pundaroo.  The  considerable  interest 
which  attaches  to  this  plant  does  not  depend  so  much  on  its 
proved  efficacy  in  medicine  as  upon  its  history  and  botanical  re- 
lations. Belonging  to  the  same  Order  as  the  true  Cinchonas, 
it  so  greatly  resembles  them  in  appearance  that  for  many  years 
it  was  known  by  the  name  of  Cinchona  excelsa,  a  name  which 
was,  I  believe,  first  bestowed  upon  it  by  Pennant.  Being  thus 
considered  the  only  cinchona  indigenous  to  India,  great  expec- 
tations were  entertained  that  it  would  be  found  at  least  a  most 
valuable  febrifuge,  if  not  an  actual  source  of  quinine.  This 
opinion  was,  to  some  extent,  corroborated  by  the  bitter  taste  of 
the  bark,  and  by  its  being  used  as  a  febrifuge  amon£T  the  na- 
tives. Roxburgh*  states  that  the  inner  coats  of  the  bark 
possess  both  the  bitterness  and  astringency  of  Peruvian  bark 
and,  when  fresh,  in  a  stronger  degree.  The  bitter  taste,  how- 
ever, on  chewing,  is  not  easily  perceived,  but  is  more  lasting. 
Ainslie,  speaking  of  the  various  substitutes  that  had  been  re- 
commended for  Peruvian  bark,  mentions  the  bark  of  Cinchona 
excelsa  as  having  been  ascertained  to  possess  powerful  tonic  and 
antifebrile  virtues. 
O'Shaughnessy  speaks  of  the  bark  as  follows  :f — "The  two 
inner  leaves  of  the  bark  possess  great  bitterness  and  astringen- 
cy; the  bark  is  used  by  tanners,  and  also  as  a  medicine  by  the 
Hindoos  in  cases  requiring  astringents." 
"We  have  analysed  the  bark  of  Cinchona  excelsa  from  the 
Botanic  Gardens  of  Calcutta,  but  could  detect  no  alkaline  ingre- 
dient ;  nevertheless  the  trees  of  hilly  regions  may  furnish  the 
valuable  desideratum.  The  stamens  being  contained  within  the 
tube  affords  much  ground  for  expecting  this  discovery  of  a  feb- 
rifuge alkaline  in  this  species.  "J 
The  plant  to  whose  bark  the  above  mentioned  virtues  are 
ascribed  is  a  fine  timber  tree.  Its  handsome  foliage  might 
easily  be  mistaken  by  an  observer  not  acutely  botanical  for  that 
of  Cinchona  Peruviana.    Its  bark  is  thick  with  a  liber  of  loose 
*  Flora  Indica,  vol.  ii.  p.  149. 
f  Bengal  Dispensatory,  1842,  pp.  394,  395. 
X  Analyses  of  the  bark  of  the  Hembra  varieties  of  the  cinchona  of  the 
Government  plantations  have  not  hitherto  corroborated  the  hypothesis 
alluded  to  by  O'Shaughnessy. 
