Peruvian bark : a popular account of the introduction of Chinchona cultivation into British India / by Clements R. Markham ... 1860-1880.

  • Markham, Clements R. (Clements Robert), Sir, 1830-1916.
Date:
1880
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Peruvian bark : a popular account of the introduction of Chinchona cultivation into British India / by Clements R. Markham ... 1860-1880. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

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    JDon Francisco Lopez de Cafiizares, the Corregidor of Loxa, who had become acquainted with the febrifuge virtues of the bark. He sent a parcel of it to the Vice- Queen, and the new remedy, administered by her physician, Dr. Don Juan de Vega, effected a rapid and complete cure. It is known by tradition, amongst the bark collectors, that the particular species from which the bark was taken, which cured the Countess of Cliinchon, was that known to them as Cascarilla dc Chaliuargucra* These trees are a variety of the C. officinalis of Linnaeus, many thousands of which are now growing in India. There are four alkaloids with febrifuge virtues, in Chinchona bark, called quinine, quinidine, chinchonine, and chinchonidine. The Casca- rilla de Chahuarguera abounds in chinchonidine, and Mr. Howard has pointed out that this particular alka- loid, concerning which there will be more to say in the sequel, probably cured the Countess. Madame de GenUs wrote a short novel founded on the cure of the Countess of Chinchon, wMch she dedi- cated to the Comtesse de Choiseul. It is entitled Zuma,] and though erroneous in every particular so far as aU the facts are concerned, it yet proves the deep and general interest which attaches to the first introduction of quina bark into Europe by the Vice-Queen. * Compendio Eistdrico-medico comercial de las Quims, por Don Ilipolito Ituiz, MS. Quoted by Mr. Howard iu his Nueva Quinohgia de Favon. t Madame de Genlis' novel was translated into Spanish in 1827, and forms a little book entitled Zuma, 6 el descvhrimiento de h, Quina, novclda Peruana.