Kuntze, who has examined the living Cinchonæ as cultivated in India, is
of the opinion that all the numerous forms hitherto observed, both in
the wild plants and in cultivation, are merely either belonging to the
above four species or deriving from them chiefly by hybridation. Though
much in favour of a reduction of the species, we are not yet prepared
to accept Kuntze’s arrangement.
(=B.=) _Area, Climate and Soil._—The Cinchonas are natives of South
America, where they occur exclusively on the western side of the
continent between 10° N. lat. and 22° S. lat., an area which includes
portions of Venezuela, New Granada, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia.
The plants are found in the mountain regions, no species whatever
being known to inhabit the low alluvial plains. In Peru and Bolivia,
the region of the Cinchona forms a belt, 1300 miles in length,
occupying the eastern slope of the Cordillera of the Andes.[1288]
In Ecuador and New Granada, the tree is not strictly limited to the
eastern slopes, but occurs on other of the Andine ranges.
The average altitude of the cinchoniferous region is given by Weddell
as 5,000 to 8,000 feet above the sea-level. The highest limit, as noted
by Karsten, is 11,000 feet. One valuable species, _C. succirubra_,
occurs exceptionally as low as 2,600 feet. Generally, it may be said
that the altitude of the Cinchona zone decreases in proportion as it
recedes from the equator, and that the most valuable sorts are not
found lower than 5,000 feet.
The climate of the tropical mountain regions in which the Cinchonas
flourish, is extremely variable,—sunshine, showers, storms, and thick
mist, alternating in rapid succession, yet with no very great range
of temperature. A transient depression of the thermometer even to the
freezing point, and not unfrequent hail-showers, may be borne without
detriment by the more hardy species. Yet the mean temperature most
favourable for the generality of species, appears to be 12 to 20° C.
(54 to 68° F.)
Climatic agencies appear to influence the growth of Cinchona far more
than the composition of the soil. Though the tree occurs in a great
variety of geological formations, there is no distinct evidence that
these conditions control in any marked manner either the development
of the tree or the chemical constitution of its bark. Manure on the
other hand, though not increasing perceptibly luxuriance of growth,
has a decided effect in augmenting the richness of the bark in
alkaloids.[1289]
(=C.=) _Species yielding officinal barks._—The Cinchona Barks of
commerce are produced by about a dozen species; of these barks the
greater number are consumed solely in the manufacture of quinine. Those
admitted for pharmaceutical use are afforded by the following species:—
1. _Cinchona officinalis_ Hooker[1290]—A native of Ecuador and Peru,
existing under several varieties. It forms a large tree, having
lanceolate or ovate leaves, usually pointed, glabrous, and shining
on the upper surface, and scrobiculate on the under. The flowers are
small, pubescent and in short lax panicles, and are succeeded by oblong
or lanceolate capsules, ½ an inch or more in length.
2. _C. Calisaya_ Weddell—Discovered by Weddell in 1847,[1291] although
its bark had been an object of commerce since the latter half of the
previous century.
[1288] That is to say the _eastern_ Cordillera, the western and lower
range being called the _Cordillera of the Coast_; no Cinchonas grow on
the latter.
[1289] Broughton, in _Pharm. Journ._ Jan. 4, 1873. 521.
[1290] Figured in _Bot. Magazine_, vol. 89 (1863) tab. 5364, including
_C. Condaminea_ Humb. et Bonpl. and _C. Uritusinga_ Pavon.
[1291] _Ann. des Sciences nat._, Bot. x. (1848) 6, and _Hist. nat. des
Quinquinas_, 1849, tab. 3, figured in _Botanical Magazine_, 1873. 6052,
and 1879. 6434.
The tree inhabits the warmest woods of the declivities which border
the valleys of Bolivia and South-eastern Peru, at an altitude of 5000
to 6000 feet above the sea-level. More precisely, the chief localities
for the tree are the Bolivian provinces of Enquisivi, Yungas de la
Paz, Larecaja or Sorata, Caupolican or Apolobamba, and Muñecas: thence
it passes northward into the Peruvian province of Carabaya, suddenly
ceasing on the confines of the valley of Sandia, although, as Weddell
observed, the adjacent valleys are to all appearance precisely similar.
When well grown, _C. Calisaya_ has a trunk often twice as thick as a
man’s body, and a magnificent crown of foliage overtopping all other
trees of the forest. It has ovate capsules of about the same length (½
an inch) as the elegant pinkish flowers, which are in large pyramidal
panicles. The leaves are 3 to 6 inches long, of very variable form, but
usually oblong and obtuse, rarely acute.
A variety named after Joseph de Jussieu who first noticed it, β.
_Josephiana_, but known in the country as _Ichu-Cascarilla_ or
_Cascarilla del Pajonal_, differs from the preceding in that it is a
shrub, 6 to 10 feet high, growing on the borders of mountain meadows
and of thickets in the same regions as the larger form.
Other forms known in Bolivia as _Calisaya zamba_, _morada_, _verde_ or
_alta_, and _blanca_, have been distinguished by Weddell as varieties
of _C. Calisaya_.
Towards the middle of the year 1865, _Charles Ledger_, an English
traveller, obtained seeds of a superior Cinchona, which had been
collected near Pelechuco, eastwards of the lake Titicaca, about 68° W.
long. and 15° S. lat., in the Bolivian province of Caupolican. In the
same year the seeds arrived in England, but were subsequently sold to
the Dutch government, and raised with admirable success in Java, and
a little later also in private plantations in British India. The bark
of “_Cinchona Ledgeriana_” has since proved by far the most productive
in quinine of all Cinchona Barks. The tree is a mere form of C.
Calisaya.[1292]
3. _C. succirubra_ Pavon,[1293]—a magnificent tree, 50 to 80 feet high,
formerly growing in all the valleys of the Andes which debouch in the
plain of Guayaquil. The tree is now almost entirely confined to the
forests of Guaranda on the western declivities of Chimborazo, at 2,000
to 5,000 feet above the level of the sea.
The bark appears to have been appreciated in its native country at an
early period, if we may conclude that the _Red Bark_ mentioned by La
Condamine in 1737 was that under notice. It would seem, however, to
have scarcely reached Europe earlier than the second half of the last
century.[1294] The tree has broadly oval leaves, attaining about a foot
in length, nearly glabrous above, pubescent beneath, large terminal
panicles of rosy flowers, succeeded by oblong capsules 1 to 1¼ inches
long.
The other species of _Cinchona_, the bark of which is principally
consumed by the manufacturers of quinine, will be found briefly
noticed, together with the foregoing, in the conspectus at page 355.
=History=—The early native history of Cinchona is lost in obscurity. No
undoubted proofs have been handed down, to show that the aborigines of
South America had any acquaintance with the medicinal properties of the
bark. But traditions are not wanting.
[1292] Ledger’s Calisaya is beautifully figured and exactly described
in Howard’s _Quinology of the East Indian Plantations_, parts ii. and
iii.
[1293] Figured in Howard’s _Nueva Quinologia_, art. _Chinchona
succirubra_.
[1294] Howard, _l.c._ p. 9.
William Arrot,[1295] a Scotch surgeon who visited Peru in the early
part of the last century, states that the opinion then current at Loxa
was that the qualities and use of the barks of Cinchona were known to
the Indians before any Spaniard came among them. Condamine, as well as
Jussieu, heard the same statements, which appear to have been generally
prevalent at the close of the 17th century.
It is noteworthy, on the other hand, that though the Peruvians
tenaciously adhere to their traditional customs, they make no use at
the present day of Cinchona bark, but actually regard its employment
with repugnance.
Humboldt[1296] declares that at Loxa the natives would rather die than
have recourse to what they consider so dangerous a remedy. Pöppig[1297]
(1830) found a strong prejudice to prevail among the people of Huanuco
against Cinchona as a remedy for fevers, and the same fact was observed
farther north by Spruce[1298] in 1861. The latter traveller narrates,
that it was impossible to convince the _cascarilleros_ of Ecuador that
their _Red Bark_ could be wanted for any other purpose than dyeing
cloth; and that even at Guayaquil there was a general dislike to the
use of quinine.
Markham[1299] notices the curious fact that the wallets of the native
itinerant doctors, who from father to son have plied their art since
the days of the Incas, never contain cinchona bark.
Although Peru was discovered in 1513, and submitted to the Spanish
yoke by the middle of the century, no mention has been found of the
febrifuge bark with which the name of the country is connected, earlier
than the commencement of the 17th century.
Joseph de Jussieu,[1300] who visited Loxa in 1739, relates that the use
of the remedy was first made known to a Jesuit missionary, who being
attacked by intermittent fever, was cured by the bark administered to
him by an Indian cacique at Malacotas, a village near Loxa. The date
of this event is not given. The same story is related of the Spanish
corregidor of Loxa, Don Juan Lopez Canizares, who is said to have been
cured of fever in 1630.
Eight years later, the wife of the viceroy of Peru, Luis Geronimo
Fernandez de Cabrera y Bobadilla, fourth count of Chinchon, having
been attacked with fever, the same corregidor of Loxa sent a packet
of powdered bark to her physician Juan de Vega, assuring him of its
efficacy in the treatment of “_tertiana_.” The drug fully bore out its
reputation, and the countess Ana was cured.[1301] Upon her recovery,
she caused to be collected large quantities of the bark, which she
used to give away to those sick of fever, so that the medicine came to
be called _Polvo de la Condesa_, i.e. _The Countess’ Powder_. It was
certainly known in Spain the following year (1639), when it was first
tried at Alcala de Henares near Madrid.[1302]
[1295] _Phil Trans._ xl. for 1737-38. 81.
[1296] _Der Gesellsch. naturf. Freunde zu Berlin Magaz._ i. (1807) 60.
[1297] _Reise in Chile, Peru_, etc. ii. (1836) 222.
[1298] Blue Book—_East India Chinchona Plant_, 1863. 74. 75.
[1299] _Travels in Peru and India_, 1862. 2.
[1300] Quoted by Weddell in his _Hist. des Quinquinas_, p. 15, from De
Jussieu’s unpublished MS.—The town of Loxa or Loja was founded by the
Spaniards in 1546.
[1301] The circumstances are fully narrated by La Condamine (_Mém. de
l’Acad. royale des Sciences_, année 1738). But the cure of the countess
was known in Europe much before this, for it is mentioned by Sebastiano
Bado in his _Anastasis, Corticis Peruviæ, seu Chinæ Chinæ defensio_
published at Genoa in 1663. When Bado wrote, it was a debated question
whether the bark was introduced to Europe by the count of Chinchon or
by the Jesuit Fathers.
[1302] Villerobel, quoted by Bado, _op. cit._ 202.
The introduction of Peruvian Bark into Europe is described by
Chifflet, physician to the archduke Leopold of Austria, viceroy of the
Netherlands and Burgundy, in his _Pulvis Febrifugus Orbis Americani
ventilatus_, published at Brussels in 1653 (or 1651?). He says that
among the wonders of the day, many reckon the tree growing in the
kingdom of Peru, which the Spaniards call _Polo de Calenturas_, i.e.
_Lignum febrium_. Its virtues reside chiefly in the bark, which is
known as _China febris_, and which taken in powder drives off the
febrile paroxysms. He further states, that during the last few years
the bark has been imported into Spain, and thence sent to the Jesuit
Cardinal Joannes de Lugo at Rome.[1303] Chifflet adds, that it has
been carried from Italy to Belgium by the Jesuit Fathers going to the
election of a general, but that it was also brought thither direct from
Peru by Michael Belga, who had resided some years at Lima.
Chifflet, though candidly admitting the efficacy of the new drug when
properly used, was not a strong advocate for it; and his publication
started an acrimonious controversy, in which Honoratius Faber, a Jesuit
(1655), Fonseca, physician to Pope Innocent X., Sebastiano Bado[1304]
of Genoa (1656 and 1663), and Sturm (1659) appeared in defence of the
febrifuge; while Plempius (1655), Glantz, an imperial physician of
Ratisbon (1653), Godoy, physician to the king of Spain (1653), René
Moreau (1655), Arbinet and others contended in an opposite sense.
From one of these disputants, Roland Sturm, a doctor of Louvain, who
wrote in 1659,[1305] we learn that four years previously, some of the
new febrifuge had been sent by the archduke Leopold to the Spanish
ambassador at the Hague, and that he (Sturm) had been required to
report upon it. He further states, that the medicine was known in
Brussels and Antwerp as _Pulvis Jesuiticus_, because the Jesuit Fathers
were in the habit of administering it gratis to indigent persons
suffering from quartan fever; but that it was more commonly called
_Pulvis Peruanus_ or _Peruvianam Febrifugum_. At Rome it bore the name
of _Pulvis eminentissimi Cardinalis de Lugo_, or _Pulvis patrum_; the
Jesuits at Rome received it from the establishments of their order
in Peru, and used to give it away to the poor in Cardinal de Lugo’s
palace. In 1658 Sturm saw 20 doses sent to Paris which cost 60 florins.
He gives a copy of the handbill[1306] of 1651 which the apothecaries of
Rome used to distribute with the costly powder.
[1303] The cardinal belonged to a family of Seville, which town had the
monopoly of the trade with America.
[1304] Bado in his _Anastasis_, lib. 3, quotes the opinion of many
persons as coinciding with his own.
[1305] _Febrifugi Peruviani Vindiciarum pars prior—Pulveris Historiam
complectens ejusque vires et proprietates ...exhibens_, Delphis, 1669.
12°.
[1306] It is in these words:—_Modo di adoprare la Corteccia chiamata
della Febre_.—Questa Corteccia si porta dal Regno di Peru, e si chiama
China, o vero China della febre, laquale si adopra per la febre
quartans, e terzana, che venga con freddo: s’adropra in questo modo,
cioè:
Se ne piglia dramme due, e si pista fina, con passarla per setaccio; e
tre hore prima incirca, che debba venir la febre si mette in infusione
in un bicchiero di vino bianco gagliardissimo, e quando il freddo
commincia à venire, ò si sente qualche minimo principio, si prende
tutta la presa preparata, e si mette il patiente in letto.
Avertasi, si potrà dare detta Corteccia nel modo sudetto nella febre
terzana, quando quella sia fermata in stato di molti giorni.
L’esperienza continua, hà liberata quasi tutti quelli, che l’hanno
presa, purgato prima bene il corpo, e per quattro giorni doppo non
pigliar’ niuna sorte di medicamento, ma auvertasi di non darla se
non con licenza delli Sig. Medici, acciò giudicano se sia in tempo à
proposito di pigliarla.
The drug began to be known in England about 1655.[1307] The _Mercurius
Politicus_ one of the earliest English newspapers, contains in several
of its numbers for 1658,[1308] a year remarkable for the prevalence
in England of an epidemic remittent fever, advertisements offering
for sale—“_the excellent powder known by the name of the Jesuit’s
Powder_”—brought over by James Thomson, merchant of Antwerp.
Brady, professor of physic at Cambridge, prescribed bark about this
time; and in 1660, Willis, a physician of great eminence, reported it
as coming into daily use. This is also evidenced, with regard to the
continent, by the pharmaceutical tariffs of the cities of Leipzig and
Frankfurt of the year 1669, where “_China Chinæ_” has a place. ⅛ of an
ounce (a “quint”) is quoted in the latter at 50 kreuzers (about 1s.
6d.), whereas the same quantity of opium is valued at 4 kreuzers,[1309]
camphor 2 kreuzers, balsam of Peru 8 kreuzers.
Among those who contributed powerfully to the diffusion of the new
medicine, was Robert Talbor _alias_ Tabor. In his “Pyretologia” (see
Appendix, T.) he by no means intimates that his method of cure depends
on the use of bark. On the contrary, he cautions his readers against
the dangerous effects of Jesuit’s Powder when administered by unskilful
persons, yet admits that, properly given, it is a “noble and safe
medicine.”
Talbor’s reputation increasing, he was appointed in 1678 physician in
ordinary to Charles II., and in 1679, the king being ill of tertian
fever at Windsor, Talbor cured him by his secret remedy.[1310] He
acquired similar favour in France, and upon Talbor’s death (1681),
Louis XIV. ordered the publication of his method of cure, which
accordingly appeared by Nicolas de Blegny, surgeon to the king.[1311]
This was immediately translated into English, under the title of _The
English Remedy: or, Talbor’s Wonderful Secret for Cureing of Agues and
Feavers.—Sold by the Author Sir Robert Talbor to the most Christian
King and since his Death, ordered by his Majesty to be published in
French, for the benefit of his subjects, and now translated into
English for Publick Good_ (Lond. 1682).
Cinchona bark was now accepted into the domain of regular medicine,
though its efficacy was by no means universally acknowledged. It first
appeared in the London Pharmacopœia in 1677, under the name of _Cortex
Peruanus_.
[1307] So says Sir G. Baker, who has traced the introduction of
Cinchona in a very able paper published in the _Medical Transactions_
of the College of Physicians of London, iii. (1785) 141-216.
[1308] Namely No. 422. June 24-July 1; No. 426. July 22-29; No. 439.
Oct. 21-28. No. 545. Dec. 9-16.—We have examined the copy at the
British Museum.
[1309] Ph. Journ. vi. (1876) 1022.
[1310] In the _Recueil_ for 1680, p. 275 (see appendix, Talbor) the
king is said to have had another attack of fever at Windsor, for which
he took “_du Quinquina préparé_,” which again cured him.
[1311] _Le Remède anglais pour la guérison des fièvres, publié par
ordre du Roy, avec les observations de Monsieur le premier Médecin de
sa Majesté, sur la composition, les vertus, et l’usage de ce remède_,
par Nicolas de Blegny, Chirurgien ordinaire du corps de Monsieur, et
Directeur de l’Académie des nouvelles découvertes de Médecine, Paris,
1682. 12°.
For the first accurate information on the botany of Cinchona, science
is indebted to the French.[1312]
Charles-Marie de la Condamine, while occupied in common with Bouguer
and Godin, as an astronomer from 1736 to 1743, in measuring the
arc of a degree near Quito, availed himself of the opportunity to
investigate the origin of the famous Peruvian Bark. On the 3rd and 4th
of February, 1737, he visited the Sierra de Cajanuma, 2½ leagues from
Loxa, and there collected specimens of the tree now known as _Cinchona
officinalis_ var. _a. Condaminea_. At that period the very large
trees had already become rare, but there were still specimens having
trunks thicker than a man’s body. Cajanuma was the home of the first
cinchona bark brought to Europe; and in early times it enjoyed such a
reputation, that certificates drawn up before a notary were provided as
proof that parcels of bark were the produce of that favoured locality.
Joseph de Jussieu, botanist to the French expedition with which
La Condamine was connected, gathered, near Loxa in 1739, a second
_Cinchona_ subsequently named by Vahl _C. pubescens_, a species of no
medicinal value.
In 1742 Linnæus established the genus _Cinchona_,[1313] and in 1753
first described the species _C. officinalis_, recently restored and
exactly characterized by Hooker, aided by specimens supplied to him by
Mr. Howard.
The cinchona trees were believed to be confined to the region around
Loxa, until 1752 when Miguel de Santisteban, superintendent of the mint
at Santa Fé, discovered some species in the neighbourhood of Popayan
and Pasto.
In 1761 José Celestino Mutis, physician to the Marquis de la Vega,
viceroy of New Granada, arrived at Carthagena from Cadiz, and
immediately set about collecting materials for writing a _Flora_ of
the country. This undertaking he carried on with untiring energy,
especially from the year 1782 until the end of his life in 1808,—first
for seven years at Real del Sapo and Mariquita at the foot of the
Cordillera de Quindiu, and subsequently at Santa Fé de Bogotá. Mutis
gave up his medical appointment in 1772, for the purpose of entering a
religious order, and ten years later was entrusted by the Government
with the establishment and direction of a large museum of natural
history, first at Mariquita, afterwards at Santa Fé.
A position similar to that of Mutis in New Granada had also been
conferred in 1777 on the botanists Hipolito Ruiz and José Pavon with
regard to southern Peru, whence originated the well-known _Flora
Peruviana et Chilensis_,[1314] as well as most important direct
contributions to our knowledge on the subject of Cinchona.
About the same time (1776), Renquizo (Renquifo or Renjifo) found
cinchona trees in the neighbourhood of Huanuco, in the central tract of
Peru, whereby the monopoly of the district of Loxa was soon broken up.
[1312] _Sur l’arbre de Quinquina_ par M. de la Condamine—_Mém. de
l’Académie royale des Sciences pour l’année 1738_. pp. 226-243, with
two plates.
[1313] Markham has vigorously contended that the name _Cinchona_ should
be altered to _Chinchona_ as better commemorating the countess of
Chinchon. But the inconvenience of changing so well-established a name
and its many derivatives, has out-weighed these considerations.—See
list of works relating to Cinchona at the end of the present article.
[1314] Published at Madrid, 1798-1802, in 4 volumes folio, with 425
plates.
Numerous and important quinological discoveries were subsequently made
by Mutis, or rather by his pupils Caldas, Zea, and Restrepo,[1315]
as well as on the other hand by Ruiz and Pavon, and their successors
Tafalla and Manzanilla. Mutis did not bring his labours to any definite
conclusion, and his extensive botanical collections and 5,000 coloured
drawings, were sent to Madrid only in 1817, and there remained in a
lamentable state of neglect.
Some of his observations first appeared in print in 1793-94, under
the title of _El Arcano de la Quina_ in the _Diario_, a local paper
of Santa Fé, and were reprinted at Madrid in 1828 by Don Manuel
Hernandez de Gregorio. The botanical descriptions of the cinchonas
of New Granada, forming the fourth part of the _Arcano_, remained
forgotten and lost to science until rescued by Markham and published
in 1867.[1316] The drawings belonging to the descriptions were
photographed and engraved a little later, and form part of Triana’s
_Nouvelles Etudes sur les Quinquinas_, which appeared in 1870.
The two Peruvian botanists succeeded somewhat better in securing
their results. Ruiz in 1792, in his _Quinologia_,[1317] and in 1801
conjointly with Pavon in a supplement thereto, brought together a
portion of their important labours relating to cinchona. But an
essential part called _Nueva Quinologia_,[1318] written between 1821
and 1826, remained unpublished; and after an oblivion of over thirty
years, it came by purchase into the hands of Mr. John Eliot Howard, who
published it, and with rare liberality enriched it with 27 magnificent
coloured plates, mostly taken from the very specimens of Pavon lying in
the herbarium of Madrid.
Between the pupils of Mutis on the one hand, and those of Ruiz and
Pavon on the other, there arose an acrimonious controversy regarding
their respective discoveries, which has been equitably summarized by
Triana in the work just mentioned.
=Production=—The hardships of bark-collecting in the primeval forests
of South America are of the severest kind, and undergone only by
the half-civilized Indians and people of mixed race, in the pay of
speculators or companies located in the towns. Those who are engaged
in the business, especially the collectors themselves, are called
_Cascarilleros_ or _Cascadores_, from the Spanish word _Cascara_, bark.
A major-domo at the head of the collectors directs the proceedings of
the several bands in the forest itself, where provisions and afterwards
the produce are stowed away in huts of slight construction.
Arrot in 1736, and Weddell and Karsten in our own day, have given from
personal observation a striking picture of these operations.
[1315] “ ... Mutis n’avait qu’une notion inexacte et confuse du genre
_Cinchona_ et de ses véritables caractères; c’est en définitive
qu’aucune de ses espèces, dans le sens strict du mot, n’a été reconnue
ni découverte par lui.”—Triana, _Nouv. Etudes_, p. 8.
[1316] Markham, _Chinchona Species of New Granada_, Lond. 1867.
[1317] _Quinologia, ó tratado de árbol de la Quina, ó Cascarilla_,
Madrid, 1792. 4°. pp. 103.
[1318] _Supplemento á la Quinologia_, Madrid, 1801. 4°. pp. 154.
The cascarillero having found his tree, has usually to free its stem
from the luxuriant climbing and parasitic plants with which it is
encircled. This done, he begins in most cases at once to remove, after
a previous beating, the sapless layer of outer bark. In order to detach
the valuable inner bark, longitudinal and transverse incisions are made
as high as can be reached on the stem. The tree is then felled, and the
peeling completed. In most cases, but especially if previously beaten,
the bark separates easily from the wood. In many localities it has to
be dried by a fire made on the floor of a hut, the bark being placed
on hurdles above,—a most imperfect arrangement. In Southern Peru and
Bolivia however, according to Weddell, even the thickest Calisaya bark
is dried in the sun without requiring the aid of the fire.
The thinner bark as it dries rolls up into tubes or quills called
_canutos_ or _canutillos_, while the pieces stripped from the trunks
are made to dry flat by being placed one upon another and loaded with
weights, and are then known as _plancha_ or _tabla_. The bark of the
root was formerly neglected, but is now in several instances brought
into the market.
After drying, the barks are either assorted, chiefly according to
size, or all are packed without distinction in sacks or bales. In some
places, as at Popayan, the bark is even _stamped_, in order to reduce
its bulk as much as possible. The dealers in the export towns enclose
the bark in _serons_[1319] of raw bullock-hide, which, contracting as
it dries, tightly compresses the contents (100 lb. or more) of the
package. In many places however wooden chests are used for the packing
of bark.
=Conveyance to the Coast and Commercial Statistics=—The ports to which
bark is conveyed for shipment to Europe are not very numerous.
Guayaquil on the Pacific coast is the most important for produce of
Ecuador. The quantity shipped thence in 1871 was 7,859 quintals.[1320]
Pitayo bark is largely exported from Buenaventura in the Bay of Choco
further north.
Payta, the most northerly port of Peru, and Callao, the port of Lima,
likewise export bark, the latter being the natural outlet for the barks
of Central Peru from Huanuco to Cusco.
Islay, and more particularly Arica, receive the valuable barks of
Carabaya and of the high valleys of Bolivia. In 1877 the export of
Arica was equal to 5100 cwt.
The barks of Peru and Bolivia find an exceptional outlet also by the
Amazon and its tributaries, and are shipped to Europe from port of
Brazil. Howard[1321] has given an interesting account of one of the
first attempts to utilize this eastern route, made by Senr. Pedro Rada
in 1868.
There is a large export of the barks of New Granada, principally from
Santa Marta, whence the shipments[1322] in 1871 were 3,415,149 lb.; and
in 1872, 2,758,991 lb. From the neighbouring port of Savanilla, which
represents the city of Barranquilla, the sea-terminus of the navigation
of the Magdalena, the export of bark in 1871 was 1,043,835 lb., value
£38,715;[1323] it amounted to 2 millions of kilogrammes in 1877. All
Columbia is stated, in 1877, to have shipped 3½ millions of kilogrammes
of bark; yet a good deal of the excellent barks of the Columbian State
of Santander, especially those of the neighbourhood of Bucaramanga,
find their way to Maracaibo, taking the name of that place.
[1319] From _zurrón_, the Spanish name for a pouch or game-bag.
[1320] _Consular Reports_, presented to Parliament, July 1872.
[1321] Seemann’s _Journ. of Bot._ vi. (1868) 323.
[1322] _Consular Reports_, August 1873. 743.
[1323] _Ibid._ August 1872.
Some Cinchona bark is also shipped from Venezuela by way of Puerto
Cabello.
The quantity of bark appearing in the _Annual Statement of Trade_
as “Peruvian Bark” imported into the United Kingdom in 1872, was
28,451 cwt., valued £285,620; of which 11,843 cwt. was shipped from
New Granada, 4,668 cwt. from Ecuador, and 5,829 cwt. from Peru, the
remainder being entered as from the ports of Chili, Brazil, Central
America and other countries. The imports into the United Kingdom in
1876 were 26,021 cwt., valued at £272,154.
=Cultivation=—The reckless system of bark-cutting in the forests of
South America, which has resulted in the utter extermination of the
tree from many localities, has aroused the attention of the Old World,
and has at length prompted serious efforts to cultivate the tree on a
large scale in other countries.
The idea of cultivating Cinchonas out of their native regions was
advanced by Ruiz in 1792, and by Fée of Strassburg in 1824.[1324]
Royle[1325] pointed out in 1839 that suitable localities for the
purpose might be found in the Neilgherry Hills and probably in many
other parts of India, and argued indefatigably in favour of the
introduction of the tree.
The subject was also urged in reference to Java in 1837 by Fritze,
director of medical affairs in that island; in 1846 by Miquel, and
subsequently by other Dutch botanists and chemists.[1326]
Living Cinchonas had been taken to Algeria as early as 1849, by the
intervention of the Jesuits of Cusco, but their cultivation met with no
success.
Weddell in 1848 brought cinchona seeds from South America to France,
and strenuously insisted on the importance of cultivating the plant.
His seeds, especially those of _C. Calisaya_, germinated at the Jardin
des Plantes in Paris, and in June 1850, living seedlings were sent to
Algeria; and in April 1852, through the Dutch Government, to Java.
The first important attempts at cinchona cultivation were made by the
Dutch. Under the auspices of the Colonial Minister Pahud, afterwards
Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies, the botanist Hasskarl was
despatched to Peru for the purpose of obtaining seeds and plants. His
mission was so far successful, that a collection of plants contained in
21 Wardian cases, was shipped in August 1854 from Callao, in a frigate
sent expressly to receive them. Notwithstanding every care, the plants
did not reach Java in good condition; and when Hasskarl resigned his
appointment in 1856, he bequeathed to his successor Junghuhn only 167
young cinchonas, though 400 specimens had been shipped from South
America.
[1324] _Cours d’Hist. nat. pharmaceutique_, ii. (1828) 252.
[1325] _Illustrations of the Bot. of the Himalayan Mountains_, i.
(1839) 240.
[1326] According to K. W. van Gorkom, suggestions to the same end were
made to the Dutch Government as early as 1829 by Reinwardt.
An impulse to the project of cinchona-planting was given in 1852 by
Royle, in a report addressed to the East India Company, in which he
pointed out that the Government of India were then spending more than
£7,000 a year for Cinchona bark, in addition to about £25,000 for
quinine.[1327]
After some unsatisfactory endeavours on the part of the British
Government to obtain plants and seeds through the intervention of H.
M. Consuls in South America, Mr. Markham offered his services, which
were accepted. Markham, though not a professed botanist, was well
qualified for the task by a previous acquaintance with the country
and people of Peru and Bolivia, and by a knowledge of the Spanish
and Quichua languages,—and even more so by a rare amount of zeal,
intelligence, and forethought. Being fully aware of the difficulties of
the undertaking, he earnestly insisted that nothing should be neglected
which could ensure success; and in particular made repeated demands
for a steam-vessel to convey the young plants across the Pacific to
India, which unfortunately were not complied with. He further urged the
desirableness of not confining operations to a single district, but of
endeavouring to procure by different collectors all the more valuable
species.
The prudence of this latter suggestion was evident, and Markham was
enabled to engage the services of Richard Spruce, the distinguished
botanist, then resident in Ecuador, who expressed his readiness
to undertake a search for the Red Bark trees (_C. succirubra_) in
the forests of Chimborazo. He also secured the co-operation of G.
J. Pritchett for the neighbourhood of Huanuco, and of two skilful
gardeners, John Weir and Robert Cross. The last named was employed in
1861 to procure seeds of _C. officinalis_ from the Sierra de Cajanuma
near Loxa, and in 1868-64 those of _C. pitayensis_ from the province of
Pitayo in Ecuador.[1328]
Markham reserved for himself the border-lands of Peru and Bolivia, in
order to obtain _C. Calisaya_; and for this purpose started from Islay
in March 1860. Arriving in the middle of April by way of Arequipa and
Puno, at Curcero, the capital of the province of Carabaya, he made
his way to the village of Sandia, near which he met with the first
specimens of _Cinchona_ in the form of the shrubby variety of _C.
Calisaya_, termed _Josephiana_. He afterwards found the better variety
_a. vera_, and also _C. ovata_ R. et P., _C. micrantha_ R. et P., and
_C. pubescens_ Vahl. Of these sorts, but chiefly of the first three,
456 plants were shipped at Islay in June 1860.
In consequence of the hostile attitude of the people, and the jealousy
of the Bolivian Government, lest an important monopoly should be broken
up, added to the difficulties arising from insalubrious climate and the
want of roads, the obstacles encountered by Markham were very great,
and no attempt could be made to wait for the ripening of the seeds of
the Calisaya, which takes place in the month of August.[1329]
[1327] In 1870, the Indian Government purchased no less than 81,600
ounces of sulphate of quinine, besides 8,832 ounces of the sulphates
of cinchonine, cinchonidine and quinidine. The quantities bought in
subsequent years have been much smaller until the present year (1874).
[1328] _Report on the Expedition to procure seeds of C. Condaminea_
(1862); also _Report to the Under Secretary of State for India on the
Pitayo Chinchona_, by Robt. Cross, 1865.
[1329] Great difficulty was at first experienced in successfully
conveying living Cinchona plants to India, even in Wardian cases; and
the collections formed by Hasskarl, Markham, and Pritchett almost all
perished after reaching their destination (Markham’s letter, 26 Feb.
1861). But the propagation by seed has proved very rapid.
The expedition of Spruce was successful, but was also attended with
much difficulty and danger, of which there are vivid pictures in the
interesting narratives by himself and by Cross, published in the
Parliamentary Returns of 1863 and 1866.[1330]
The service entrusted, to Pritchett was also efficiently performed; and
he succeeded in bringing to Southampton six cases containing plants of
_C. micrantha_ and _C. nitida_, besides a large supply of seeds.
Some important supplies of plants and seed for British India have
likewise been obtained from the Dutch plantations in Java. Seeds of _C.
lancifolia_, the tree affording the valuable bark of New Granada, were
procured through Dr. Karsten.
Previously to the arrival in India of the first consignment of plants,
careful inquiries were instituted from a meteorological and geological
point of view, as to the localities most adapted for the cultivation.
This resulted in the selection for the first trial of certain spots
among the Neilgherry (or Nilgiri) Hills on the south-west coast of
India and in the Madras Presidency. Of this district, the chief town
is Ootocamund (or Utakamand), situated about 60 miles south of Mysore
and the same distance from the Indian Ocean. Here the first plantation
was established in a woody ravine, 7,000 feet above the sea-level, a
spot pronounced by Mr. Markham to be exceedingly analogous, as respects
vegetation and climate, to the Cinchona valleys of Carabaya. Other
plantations were formed in the same neighbourhood, and so rapid was the
propagation, that in September 1866, there were more than 1½ millions
of Cinchona plants on the Neilgherry Hills alone.[1331] The species
that grows best there is _C. officinalis_.
The number was stated to be in 1872, 2,639,285, not counting the trees
of private planters. The largest are about 30 feet high, with trunks
over 3 feet in girth. The area of the Government plantations on the
Neilgherry Hills is 950 acres.[1332]
Plantations have also been made in the coffee-producing districts of
Wynaad, and in Coorg, Travancore and Tinnevelly, in all instances, we
believe, as private speculations.
Cinchona plantations have been established by the Government of India
in the valleys of the Himalaya in British Sikkim,[1333] and some have
been started in the same region by private enterprise. In the former
there were on the 31st March 1870, more than 1½ millions of plants
permanently placed, the species growing best being _C. succirubra_
and _C. Calisaya_. The Cinchona plantation of Rungbi near Darjiling
(British Sikkim) covered in 1872 2,000 acres. In the Kangra valley of
the Western Himalaya, plantations have been commenced, as well as in
the Bombay Presidency, and in British Burma.
[1330] _Correspondence relating to the introduction of the Chinchona
Plant into India_, ordered by the House of Commons to be printed 20
March 1863 and 18 June 1866.
[1331] Blue Book (Chinchona Cultivation, 1870. p. 30).—A name that must
always be remembered in connection with the Neilgherry plantations,
is that of William Graham McIvor, who by his rare practical skill and
sagacity in the cultivation and management of the tree, has rendered
most signal services in its propagation in India.
[1332] _Moral and material progress and condition of India during
1871-72_, presented to Parliament 1873. p. 33.
[1333] The first annual Report dates from 1862 to 1863; I am indebted
to Dr. King for that of 1876-1877.—F. A. F.
Ceylon offers favourable spots for the cultivation of Cinchona, in
the mountain region which occupies the centre of the island, as
at Hakgalle, near Neuera-Ellia, 5,000 feet above the sea, where a
plantation was formed by Government in 1861. The production of bark has
been taken up with spirit by the coffee-planters of Ceylon.
The Government of India has acted with the greatest liberality in
distributing plants and seeds of Cinchona, and in promoting the
cultivation of the tree among the people of India; and it has freely
granted supplies of seed to other countries.
The plantations of Java commenced by Hasskarl, increased under
Junghuhn’s management to such an extent, that in December 1862 there
were 1,360,000 seedlings and young trees, among which however the more
valuable species, as _C. Calisaya_, _C. lancifolia_, _C. micrantha_
and _C. succirubra_, were by far the least numerous, whereas _C.
Pahudiana_, of which the utility was by no means well established,
amounted to over a million. The disproportionate multiplication of this
last was chiefly due to its quickly yielding an abundance of seeds, and
to its rapid and vigorous growth. Another defect in the early Dutch
System of cultivation arose from the notion that the Cinchona requires
to be grown in the shade of other trees, and to a less successful plan
of multiplying by cuttings and layers.
These and other matters were the source of animated and often bitter
discussions, which terminated on the one hand by the death of Junghuhn
in 1864, and on the other by the skilful investigations of De Vry. This
eminent chemist was despatched by the Government of Holland in 1857 to
Java, that he might devote his chemical knowledge to the investigation
of the natural productions of the island, including the then newly
introduced Cinchona. It was March 16th, 1859, when Dr. de Vry laid
before the governor-general, Mr. Pahud, the first crystals of sulphate
of quinine he had prepared from bark grown in that island.
Under K. W. van Gorkom, who was appointed superintendent in 1864, the
Dutch plantations have assumed a very prosperous state. J. C. Bernelot
Moens,[1334] the present director, stated that at the end of 1878 the
leading species was Calisaya in its various forms, including more than
400,000 plants of Ledger’s Calisaya. Numerous analyses of Bernelot
Moens show a percentage of from 4½ to 10·6 of quinine in the latter
variety. Some of them, however, in December 1878, afforded not more
than 0·64 per cent. of quinine and 1·26 of cinchonidine.
The regular shipments of the barks from Java to the Amsterdam market
are going on, and the barks are sold there with regard to the results
of the government chemist’s analyses.
Cinchona Bark from the Indian plantations began to be brought into the
London market in 1867,[1335] and now arrives in constantly increasing
quantities.
The history of the transplantation of the Cinchona down to the year
1867 has been made the subject of the report of Soubeiran and Delondre
mentioned at the end of the present article.
[1334] I am indebted to the Dutch administration for their interesting
statistical documents relating to Cinchona.—F. A. F.
[1335] When I was in London, in August 1867, I went to Finsbury Place,
to meet Mr. Spruce, and was happy enough to find there also Mr. Howard,
who presented Mr. S. and myself with market samples of the _first_
importation of _C. succirubra_, from Denison plantation, Ootacamund.—F.
A. F.
=Description=—(=A.=) _Of Cinchona Barks generally_—In the development
of their bark, the various species of Cinchona exhibit considerable
diversity. Many are distinguished from an early stage by an abundant
exfoliation of the outer surface, while in others this takes place
to a smaller degree, or only as the bark becomes old. The external
appearance of the bark varies therefore very much, by reason of the
greater or less development of the suberous coat. The barks of young
stems and branches have a greyish tint more or less intense, while the
outer bark of old wood displays the more characteristic shades of brown
or red, especially after removal of the corky layers.
In the living bark, these colours are very pale, and only acquire their
final hue by exposure to the air, and drying. Some of them however are
characteristic of individual species, or at least of certain groups,
so that the distinctions originated by the bark-collectors of _pale_,
_yellow_, _red_, etc.[1336] and adopted by druggists, are not without
reason.
In texture, the barks vary in an important manner by reason of
diversity in anatomical structure. Their fracture especially depends
upon the number, size, and arrangement of the liber-fibres, as will be
shown in our description of their microscopic characters.
The taste in all species is bitter and disagreeable, and in some there
is in addition a decided astringency. Most species have no marked
odour, at least in the dried state. But this is not the case in that of
_C. officinalis_, the smell of which is characteristic.
(=B.=) _Of the Barks used in pharmacy_—For pharmaceutical preparations
as distinguished from the pure alkaloids and their salts, the Cinchona
barks employed are chiefly of three kinds.
1. _Pale Cinchona Bark_, _Loxa Bark_, _Crown Bark_[1337]—This bark,
which previous to the use of Quinine and for long afterwards, was the
ordinary _Peruvian Bark_ of English medicine, is only found in the
form of quills, which are occasionally as much as a foot in length,
but are more often only a few inches or are reduced to still smaller
fragments. The quills are from ¾ down to an ⅛ of an inch in diameter,
often double, and variously twisted and shrunken. The thinnest bark
is scarcely stouter than writing paper; the thickest may be ⅒ of an
inch or more.[1338] The pieces have a blackish brown or dark greyish
external surface, variously blotched with silver-grey, and often beset
with large and beautiful lichens. The surface of some of the quills
is longitudinally wrinkled and moderately smooth; but in the majority
it is distinctly marked by transverse cracks, and is rough and harsh
to the touch. The inner side is closely striated and of a bright
yellowish-brown.
The bark breaks easily with a fracture which exhibits very short fibres
on the inner side. It has a well-marked odour _sui generis_, and an
astringent bitter taste. Though chiefly afforded by _C. officinalis_,
some other species occasionally contribute to furnish the Loxa Bark of
commerce as shown in the conspectus at p. 355.
[1336] The following are common terms in reference to the barks of
Peru:—_Amarilla_ (yellow), _blanca_ (white), _colorado_ or _roja_
(red), _naranjada_ (orange), _negrilla_ (brown).
[1337] _Cortex Cinchonæ pallidæ_; F. _Quinquina Loxa_; G. _Loxachina_.
The term _Crown Bark_ was originally restricted to a superior sort of
Loxa Bark, shipped for the use of the royal family of Spain.
[1338] In the old collections of the Royal College of Physicians, there
are specimens of very thick Loxa Bark, of a quality quite unknown there
at the present day. They are doubtless the produce of ancient trees,
such as were noticed by La Condamine.
2. _Calisaya Bark_, _Yellow Cinchona Bark_.[1339]—This bark, which is
the most important of those commonly used in medicine, is found in flat
pieces (α.), and in quills (β.), both afforded by _C. Calisaya_ Wedd.,
though usually imported separated.
α. _Flat Calisaya_—is in irregular flat pieces, a foot or more in
length by 3 to 4 inches wide, but usually smaller, and ²/₁₀ to ⁴/₁₀ of
an inch in thickness; devoid of suberous layers and consisting almost
solely of liber, of uniform texture, compact and ponderous. Its colour
is a rusty orange-brown, with darker stains on the outer surface. The
latter is roughened with shallow longitudinal depressions, sometimes
called _digital furrows_.[1340] The inner side has a wavy, close,
fibrous texture. The bark breaks transversely with a fibrous fracture;
the fibres of the broken ends are very short, easily detached, and with
a lens are seen to be many of them faintly yellowish and translucent.
A well-marked variety, known as _Bolivian Calisaya_, is distinguished
for its greater thinness, closer texture, and for containing numerous
laticiferous ducts which are wanting in common flat Calisaya bark.
β. _Quill Calisaya_—is found in tubes ¾ to 1½ inch thick, often rolled
up at both edges, thus forming double quills. They are always coated
with a thick, rugged, corky layer, marked with deep longitudinal and
transverse cracks, the edges of which are somewhat elevated. This
suberous coat, which is silvery white or greyish, is easily detached,
leaving its impression on the cinnamon-brown middle layer. The inner
side is dark brown and finely fibrous. The transverse fracture is
fibrous but very short. The same bark also occurs in quills of very
small size, and is then not distinguishable with certainty from Loxa
bark.
3. _Red Cinchona Bark._—Though still retaining a place in the British
Pharmacopœia, this is by far the least important of the Cinchona barks
employed in pharmacy. But as the tree yielding it (_C. succirubra_) is
now being cultivated on a large scale in India, the bark may probably
come more freely into use.
Red Bark of large stems, which is the most esteemed kind, occurs in
the form of flat or channelled pieces, sometimes as much as ½ an inch
in thickness, coated with their suberous envelope which is rugged and
warty. Its outermost layer in the young bark has a silvery appearance.
The inner surface is close and fibrous and of a brick-red hue. The bark
breaks with a short fibrous fracture.[1341]
(=C.=) _Of the Barks not used in pharmacy_—Among the non-officinal
barks, the most important are afforded by _Cinchona lancifolia_ Mutis
and _C. pitayensis_ Wedd., natives of the Cordilleras of Columbia.
These barks are largely imported and used for making quinine, the
former under the name of _Columbian_, _Carthagena_, or _Caqueta bark_.
It varies much in appearance, but is generally of an orange-brown;
the corky coat, which scales off easily, is shining and whitish. The
barks of _C. lancifolia_ often occur in fine large quills or thick
flattish pieces. Their anatomical structure agrees in all varieties
which we have examined, in the remarkable number of thick-walled and
tangentially-extended cells of the middle cortical layer and the
medullary rays. In percentage of alkaloids, Carthagena barks are liable
to great variation.
[1339] _Cortex Cinchonæ flavæ_, _Cortex Chinæ regius_; F. _Quinquina
Calisaya_; G. _Königschina_.
[1340] From the notion that they resemble the marks left by drawing the
fingers over wet clay.
[1341] Thick Red Bark that happens to have a very deep and brilliant
tint is eagerly bought at a high price for the Paris market.
The _Pitayo Barks_ are restricted to the south-western districts of
Columbia,[1342] and are usually imported in short flattish fragments,
or broken quills, of brownish rather than orange colour, mostly covered
with a dull greyish or internally reddish cork. The middle cortical
layer exhibits but few thick-walled cells; the liber is traversed by
very wide medullary rays, and is provided with but a small number of
widely scattered liber-fibres, which are rather thinner than in most
other Cinchona barks. The Pitayo barks are usually rich in alkaloids,
quinine prevailing. _Cinchona pitayensis_ is one of the hardiest
species of the valuable Cinchonas, and is therefore particularly
suitable for cultivation, which however has not yet been carried out as
largely as that of either _C. officinalis_ or _C. succirubra_.
In the Conspectus on the next page, we have arranged the principal
species of _Cinchona_, with short indications of the barks which some
of them afford.[1343]
=Microscopic Structure=—The first examination of the minute structure
of Cinchona barks is due to Weddell, whose observations have been
recorded in one of his beautiful plates published in 1849.[1344] Since
that time numerous other observers have laboured in the same field of
research.
_General Characters._—These barks, as contrasted with those of other
trees, do not exhibit any great peculiarities of structure; and
their features may be comprehended in the following statements. The
_epidermis_, in the anatomical sense, occurs only in the youngest
barks, which are not found in commerce. The _corky layer_, which
replaces the epidermis, is constructed of the usual tabular cells. In
some species as _C. Calisaya_, it separates easily, at least in the
older bark, whereas in others as _C. succirubra_, the bark even of
trunks is always coated with it. In several species the corky tissue is
not only found on the surface, but strips of it occur also in the inner
substance of the bark. In this case the portions of tissue external
to the inner corky layers or bands are thrown off as _bork-scales_
(_periderm_ of Weddell). This peculiar form of suberous tissue[1345]
was first examined (not in cinchona) in 1845 by H. von Mohl, who called
it _rhytidoma_ (_Borke_ of the Germans). In _C. Calisaya_ it is of
constant occurrence, but not so usually in _C. succirubra_ and some
others; the rhytidoma therefore affords a good means of distinguishing
several barks.
The inner portion of the bark exhibits a _middle_ or _primary layer_
(_mesophlœum_),[1346] made up of parenchyme; and a second inner layer
or _liber_ (_endophlœum_)[1347] displaying a much more complicated
structure. The primary layer disappears if rhytidoma is formed: barks
in which this is the case are therefore at last exclusively composed of
liber, of which Flat Calisaya Bark is a good example.
[1342] Pitayo is an Indian village eastward of Popayan; see map of the
country between Pasto and Bogotá in Blue Book (East India Chinchona
Plant) 1866. 257.
[1343] Two species included by Weddell in his _Notes sur les
Quinquinas_, namely _C. Chomeliana_ Wedd. and _C. barbacoensis_ Karst.,
have been omitted, as not in our opinion belonging to the genus.
[1344] _Hist. nat. des Quinquinas_, tab. ii.
[1345] Flückiger, _Grundlagen_, Berlin, 1872. 61. fig. 48.
[1346] _Enveloppe ou tunique cellulaire_ of Weddell; _Mittelrinde_ of
the Germans.
[1347] In German _Bast_, or _Phloëm_ of modern German botany.