John Montgomery

“ The abundant supply of Peruvian Bark is, therefore, a question of deep interest to mankind. Every species of cinchona of which the bark is really valuable, is now eagerly sought after, wherever it grows; but the districts once most productive of bark now produce comparatively little; all the regulations by which the South American Governments have from time to time attempted to prevent the destruction of the trees, have been nearly ineffectual; and in all South America no attempt has ever been made for their cultivation. ”

“ On the slopes and in the ravines of the Andes, in the more northern parts of South America, within the tropics, but at elevations where the climate is temperate, in scattered groups amidst dense forests, or, higher on the mountains, singly and in clusters on the ridges where the guanaco and vicugna feed, grow the trees of the genus Cinchona, natives of no other part of the world, but yielding a medicine of inestimable value, and with which, as a remedy for the intermittent fevers of warm and moist countries, no other febrifuge is worthy to be compared. ”

“ When we inquire into the distribution of the different kinds of plants and animals existing in the world, we find that most of them are natives only of certain countries; and even those which, because of their long-proved value, have been most widely diffused through the care and agency of man, appear to have been at first limited to some of the early seats of civilisation. And thus scope has been afforded for the cultivation of man’s own faculties, and for the beneficial exertion of all human energies. ”

“ Of this adaptation of different species to climates considerably different advantage is likely to be taken in order to their cultivation in different parts of the world. Even the south of Europe might probably be suitable for some.
These valuable trees are also trees of great beauty. Some of them grow to a considerable height, and are fine umbrageous trees; and others grow up as straight and leafless as palms; while some are mere shrubs, scattered over grassy slopes and plains at great elevations among the mountains. ”

“ What the value of Peruvian Bark is, was proved in the unfortunate Walcheren expedition, in the saving of many lives by the opportune arrival of an American ship with a large quantity of it. Poor sufferers, emaciated with fever and shaking with ague, were speedily restored to health. The introduction of quinine into the military hospitals of India was immediately followed by a great diminution of the mortality from fevers. The quinine used in the hospitals now costs the Government of India many thousands of pounds sterling annually. ”

“ The cinchonas of New Granada are not only different from those of the south of Peru and Bolivia, but even from those of intermediate latitudes: and in like manner the traveller, in ascending or descending the mountains, finds one species to appear, and another to disappear, as he passes a certain altitudinal line. ”

“ The Neilgherry Hills were chosen as the place to which the greater part of the cinchona plants and seeds should be sent. Some were, however, also sent to the mountains of Ceylon, and to Darjeeling, in the Sikkim Himalaya. And already there are thousands of plants of the best species of cinchona in India; plants are freely sold from the government nurseries to those who are willing to undertake the cultivation of them ”

“ Their ordinary practice, when they have reached a suitable locality, is to ascend to an elevated pinnacle of the mountains, or to climb one of the highest trees of the forest, in order to obtain an extensive view. ”