Cinchona

“ One could see that he felt his master ought to have known all about Cinchona.
“An interesting coincidence,” commented the old man gently. “The drug cinchona is, of course, well known scientifically, but classically, Cinchona the demi-god is hardly known at all. In fact, he is only mentioned once or twice in the whole of ancient literature. I have been dipping into my Homer,”—he indicated the familiar volume in his hand—“and I find—”
“May I look for myself?” asked Pettigrew suddenly; and before even Ada could spring to the old man's side he had snatched the book and opened it. ”

“ The rapid destruction of the cinchona-tree in South America, owing to the reckless method of gathering the bark, and the consequent high price of quinine in a country where that drug holds so important a rank, led the Government of India to try the experiment of introducing the tree into the waste mountainous regions of that country. Difficulties almost insurmountable were at first presented in obtaining young plants and seeds from the cinchona regions of the Andes, on account of the obstacles thrown in the way by the different South American governments. ”

“ 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 ”

“ The, other alkaloids of cinchona bark—quinidine, cinchonidine, and cinchonine—also possess similar properties, but all are much less effective than quinine. This is also the case with the cinchona febrifuge prepared from C. succirubra.
The great disadvantage of the official preparations is the bitter taste and insolubility. It is found, however, that all the soluble salts are bitter, whilst the tasteless ones are insoluble. ”

“ Cinchona, a genus of evergreen trees, includes thirty-six species, about a dozen of which are utilized. They are natives of the Andes, growing mostly between five thousand and eight thousand feet above the sea-level. It is the source of quinine, the most important drug in tropical medicine, and widely used throughout the world. Its cultivation is becoming quite extensive. ”

“ The Cinchona Alkaloids.—Of all the species of cinchona-trees planted in the Nilgiri Hills district of India, the red-bark, or C. succirubra, has succeeded best; indeed, none of the other species appear to thrive in the Nilgiri plantations, and they are rapidly giving way before the red-bark cinchona-tree. The bark of the latter contains only a small proportion of the alkaloid quinine as compared with the other three principal alkaloids—cinchonine, cinchonidine, and quinidine—and hence the promise of an abundant supply of the first-named alkaloid from the Indian plantations is not fulfilled. ”

“ The young leaves are cooked and eaten in the same manner as spinach or greens in Egypt. They are acrid, but lose their acridity when boiled, the water being changed. The roots are filled with starch, and have long been used as food in various semitropical countries.
135. Condaminea macrophylla.—This plant belongs to the cinchona family, and contains tonic properties. The Peruvian bark gatherers adulterate the true cinchona bark with this, but it may be detected by its white inner surface, its less powerful bitter taste, and a viscidity not possessed by the cinchonas. ”

“ Pettigrew here," began the undertaker, "knowing Mr. Baxter's fondness for giving information and advice, brought him a little poser last time we came here. We asked him if he could find anything in his library about an ancient Greek party called Cinchona. He said he would look Mr. Cinchona up. This evening he had his little lecture all ready for us. Highly enjoyable, it was. Cinchona, it seems, was one of the less-known figures in Ancient Greek Mythology—wasn't that it, Pettigrew?" ”

“ 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. ”

“ He and his sons were very much attached to me, [201] and I placed every confidence in them. Sitting round our camp-fire one evening, as was our custom after dinner, conversing on all sorts of topics, I mentioned what I had read as to Mr. Clement R. Markham's mission in search of cinchona seeds. Now, Manuel had been with me in three of my journeys into the cinchona districts of the Yungas of Bolivia, where I had to go looking after laggard contractors for delivery of bark. ”

“ It is thus evident that the interest of American botanists desiring a tropical laboratory has centered about Cinchona for the past two decades. There is good reason to believe that this interest will continue and increase. When, therefore, it was learned that Cinchona, the only station in the western tropics for the study of pure botany, was not to be again leased by the New York Botanical Garden, the Botanical Society of America, meeting in Cleveland, attempted to secure the continuation of the use of the Cinchona station for American botanists. ”

“ The importance of recognizing the complex and inconstant composition of cinchona bark lies, as in so many other instances, in this—that the physician who employs it can have only a very imperfect knowledge of the drug he is using. The latest work on the action of these alkaloids has shown that cinchonine has a tendency to produce convulsions in certain patients, and that this action is a still more marked feature of cinchonidine and cinchonamine. Even small doses administered to epileptics increase the number of their attacks. ”

“ The cinchona, thus washed, is to be slightly heated in a sufficient quantity of water, adding muriatic acid gradually until litmus paper is slightly reddened. When the liquid is raised nearly to the boiling point, it is to be strained, and the cinchona again pressed. To the strained liquor, while hot, add an ounce of sulphate of magnesia, and after this add a solution of potass, till it ceases to occasion any precipitate. When the liquor is cold, collect the precipitate on a filtre, wash and dry it, and dissolve it in hot alcohol. On evaporation of the spirit, the cinchona will crystallize. ”

“ In the leaves, bark, and wood of the cinchona tree this acid is contained, together with quinovin, and it is this mixture which has been recently applied in therapeutics, as a powerful tonic in cases of dysentery, &c. The mixture can easily be obtained from the leaves, bark, or wood of cinchona, and even from bark which has been exhausted by ebullition with water or diluted acids, by cold maceration with weak milk of lime, by which it is dissolved, as it combines easily with bases. It is only the quinovate of lime which has till now been used in medicine.—Dose, 2 to 8 gr. every two hours. ”

“ A fourth very important advantage of Cinchona is that it is located in the healthy highlands where the climate is stimulating for workers from the temperate zones; where the water supply is pure, and where malaria and enteric troubles are not to be feared. ”

“ At Cinchona, with its comfortable house and delightful garden, with its splendid views of mountain and valley, of Kingston Harbor with its gliding ships and twinkling lights, the worker is assured of restful diversion for his leisure hours. Nor need he entirely lack pleasant association with Ins fellow man, though his nearest neighbors, coffee planters, are several miles away. The planter leads an active outdoor life in the invigorating climate of the hills, but he finds time for sociability, and at four o'clock he is indoors for tea. ”

“ Throughout his life he was connected with his father's chemical manufactory at Stratford. His first paper, a report on the collection of cinchona in the British Museum made by the Spanish botanist Pavon, was published in 1852. In the following year he joined the Pharmaceutical Society, and in 1857 the Linnean Society. Being specially interested in quinine he purchased at Madrid, in 1858, the manuscript 'Nueva Quinologia' and the specimens of cinchona belonging to Pavon ”

“ Although representing less value in the aggregate, the collecting of cinchona bark is one of the oldest forest industries of Bolivia, which is said still to have large areas of virgin forest to draw upon. The Bolivian product is of the best because of the high percentage of quinine sulphate which it yields. The industry is destructive in method, and the area of cinchona forests is steadily diminishing. Many other Bolivian plants are commercially valuable, and organized industry and trade in them will certainly be profitable. ”

“ Realizing that the coffee crop is still in an experimental condition, some of the planters are giving their attention to the cinchona, which thrives greatly [Pg 147] at Ceylon, even flourishing at elevations where coffee naturally dies out. The seeds of the cinchona are planted in nurseries, and when six months old are transplanted into prepared fields, where they make rapid growth. They do not begin to yield until the tree is eight years old. ”

“ The Madras government commenced the experimental cultivation of cinchona on the Nilgiris in 1860, and several private cinchona gardens were laid out, owing to the success of the government experiment. The climate of the Nilgiri hills is almost unrivalled for equability of temperature. ”

“ 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 compound tincture of cinchona bark in the British Pharmacopoeia, which also contains bitter orange peel, serpentary root, saffron, and cochineal mixed in spirit, was devised by him, and was for some time called 'Huxham's tincture.' His book gave him a wide reputation, and his practice grew large. The physician to the factory at Lisbon declared that the queen of Portugal, whom he cured of a fever, owed her life to Huxham's treatise. ”

“ The Bolivians imagined an exploration of a little stream on the left bank, the Chuntapunco, which they thought might issue from a quinine-bearing region. They built a little raft, and departed with provisions for three or four days. They returned, in fact, after a week's absence, with seven varieties of cinchona—the hirsuta, lanceolata, purpurea and ovata of Ruiz and Pavon, and three more of little value and unknown names. ”

“ As regards the prospects for future supplies of cinchona-barks from the native forests of South America, the outlook is exceedingly discouraging; the greatly increased use of cinchona alkaloids during the last few years, with the consequent demand for larger supplies of bark, has caused a very thorough working of the old forests, and energetic seeking for new ones. The discoveries of paying forests are becoming more and more rare every year, and the new forests are found at greater distances from the shipping ports, and are more difficult of access. ”

“ General Therapeutics.—Transfusion.—The Discovery of Cinchona and Ipecacuanha.—In the department of general therapeutics, as we learn from Berendes, several important new measures were brought forward during the seventeenth century; and among these the following deserve to receive brief mention in this place: the operation of transfusing blood from a healthy individual to one who is ill; the introduction of cinchona into the European pharmacopoeia as an efficient remedy in the treatment of certain fevers ”

“ 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. ”

“ The Pompon varieties are derived from the Chusan Daisy, introduced into England from China by Mr. Fortune in 1846. In their wild state they are all, indeed, even the Japanese forms of the Chinese flowers, much like Daisies, with a yellow disc surrounded by rays of florets, but by cultivation the disc-florets are assimilated to those of the ray, and the flower assumes a homogeneous appearance only faintly suffused with yellow towards the centre.
CINCHONA.—The Cinchona, or Jesuit’s Bark-tree (Cinchona officinalis) , is a native of Peru. ”

“ The tract of country yielding the cinchona is not so unlimited as some writers would lead us to believe, nor is the supply inexhaustible; it is a fact recognized by natives and dealers, who are well informed about the extent and resources of the cinchona-bearing districts, that if the present ruinous system of destroying the trees is continued, and no effort made to propagate new growths, they will, before many years, be practically exterminated from their native soil. ”