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Cinchona  or  Chinchona, 
(  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
t       May,  1875. 
among  the  highest  authorities  on  the  subject.  They  strongly  advocated 
the  correct  spelling.  .  .  .  The  botanist  Mutis,  with  his  disciples 
Zea  and  Caldas,  were  engaged  in  the  study  of  the  ChinchorKs  of  New 
Granada,  the  former  residing  in  South  America,  chiefly  at  Bogota, 
from  1783,  until  his  death,  in  1808.  They  also  spelt  the  word  cor- 
rectly.   .    .  .' 
"  That  Linnaeus  could  not  have  been  ignorant  of  the  correct  spell 
ing  at  a  much  earlier  date  than  that  mentioned  seems  probable  from  the 
following  circumstance:  In  1758,  J.  Ch.  P.  Peterson  read  at  Upsala 
an  academic  dissertation,  '  De  Cortice  Peruviano,'  Linnaeus  presiding. 
In  this  production,  which  was  afterwards  printed,  the  name  of  the 
Spanish  Viceroy  appears  (more  than  once)  as  '  Comes  del  Chinchon,' 
while  the  bark  is  spoken  of  '  Chinchona,'  and  never  as  Cinchona 
('quamvis  nonnulli  Chinchonam  in  scorbuto  esse  magni  ponderis  remed- 
ium  .  .  .  .'  p.  10). 
"As  to  Mutis,  Mr.  Markham  overlooks  the  fact  that  that  botanist 
was  residing  at  Bogota,  not  merely  in  1783,  but  in  1763,  under  which 
latter  date  he  wrote  thence  to  Linnaeus  ;  and  that  a  correspondence 
was  kept  up  between  them  for  eighteen  years.  Some  of  Mutis'  letters 
are  fortunately  extant,  and  form  part  of  the  Linnaean  collections  at 
Burlington  House.  As  they  throw  some  light  on  the  subject,  I  have 
made  from  them  a  few  extracts.  Translations  of  the  letters  may  be 
found  in  Sir  J.  E.  Smith's  '  Selection  of  the  Correspondence  of  Lin- 
naeus,' London,  1821. 
"  24th  Sept.,  1864.  (Mutis  to  Linnaeus.)  '  Verum  ne  plane  inep- 
tissimae  hae  literae  tibi  viderentur,  iconem  et  flores  quosdam  Chinchonae 
adjungere  duxi.  An  descriptioni  suae  figuram  ullam  addiderit  Celeber- 
rimus  de  la  Condamine,  vel  an  plantam  siccam  examinasse  tibi  licuerit, 
necne,  cum  nullam  notam  in  descriptione  Chinchonae  editionis  Holmiae 
54  videam,  non  plane  mihi  constat.'  [The  drawing  and  specimens 
here  alluded  to,  still  exist  in  the  Linnean  herbarium.] 
"3d  Oct.,  1767. — (The  same  to  the  same.)  *  .  .  .  .  sane  praeter 
ultimas  lineas,  in  quibus  nunciabatur,  te  Cinchonam  accepisse  ;  quasque 
in  Civitate  Bogotensi,  antequam  illinc  longissimae  peregrination!  paratus 
decederem,  summa  jucunditate  legisse  contigit  ' 
"  15th  May,  1770. — In  this  letter  the  name  of  the  plant  occurs  four 
times,  and  is  always  written  after  the  fashion  of  Linnaeus  with  one  h. 
Appended  to  the  letter,  Mutis  sends  a  botanical  description  of  a  plant 
which  he  calls  Cinchona  Gironensis. 
