972

ELEMENTS OF MATEIUA MEDICA.

Properties.— The roots often abound'in colouring matter, and hence are u ,^dyeing; as some of those belonging- to the genera Ru'bia, Garde'nia, R e ,, lC ticGenipa, Ga'lium, Asper'ula, Palicourea, Oldenlan'dia, &c. Many roots posses*properties, as those of Cephae'lis, Psycho'tria, Richardso’nia, Spermaco’ce,Chiococ'ca, &c. . gn tl/

The barks are often bitter, astringent, and somewhat aromatic ; and are ero 1 ^,distinguished for their tonic, febrifuge, and antiperiodic qualities, as those 0cho'na, Exoste'ma, Couta'rea, Cosmibuena, Remija, Hymenodic'tyon, Pinkney 0 ’ j 9The important use of the torrefied albumen of Coffe'a arab'ica is well knowu-^^ 0 fprobable that the albumen of other species possesses aualogous properties-Psycho'tria lierba'cea has been used for similar purposes.

Cinchona , Decandolle.— Several species yielding Peruvian Bark-

C. Cordifo'lia, lancifo'lia, and oblongifo'lia, L. D. —C. Condamin'ea, micrari'tha, and other undet e

species, E.

Sex . Syst. Pentandria, Monogynia.

(Cortex, L. D. —Bark, E.) ^

History. —The precise period and manner of the discovery. 0 elJtherapeutic power of cinchona is enveloped in mystery. If is -, r ds.doubtful whether the Indians knew it previous to the Spa® a jG eoffrey (Mat. Med. ii. 181) says, that the Indians were acqua® ^with this medicine long prior to the arrival of Columbus; but ^the implacable hatred which they conceived against the Span® ^they kept it secret for many years, until, in fact, an Indian, grate®some favours received from the Governor of Loxa, imparted to hi® ^secret of this valuable specific. Humboldt (Lambert’s Illustr■ p- ^however, disbelieves these statements; for, in Loxa, and other p® ts _ grearound, he found the natives ranked Cinchona among poisons, and ^totally unacquainted with its uses. “ In Malacatis only,”

“ where many bark-peelers live, they begin to put confidence in thecliona bark.” Ulloa ( Voy. de I'Amer.-merid. i. 271) also asserted;the Peruvians were ignorant of the medical uses of cinchona. ^ e jjguditions, therefore, of the supposed discovery of the remedy by an 1° abeing cured of an ague by drinking at a pool into which some Cn®trees had fallen (Geoffrey, Introd. ad Mat. Med. p. 48), as well a s ^more improbable story told by Condamine (Mem. Acad. Sc. de Paris , 1 ^

p. 226), of the Indians observing lions ill with ague eating Cinchona must be fabulous. The assertion, says Humboldt , that the great -rican lion (Felis concolor) was subject to fever, is as bold as that ® ade jj a tthe inhabitants of the pestilential valley, Gualla Bamba, near Quit® 1 ^even the vultures (Vultur aura) in their neighbourhood were subj eC ,that disorder. Moreover, in the Cinchona forests, lions are not ® u ^though the puma (Felis andicola of Humboldt , the petit lion du V° lc gt jde Pichincha of Condamine) has been met 2,500 toises (15,000 ®above the level of the sea.

Humboldt (op. cit. p. 23) tells us of an old tradition, current in I^j.’that the Jesuits having accidentally discovered the bitterness of the btried an infusion in tertian ague, and in this way became acquainted u ^its valuable properties. This he thinks a much less improbable tradithan that which ascribes the discovery to the Indians. The period W .bark was first introduced into Europe is usually stated to be 16-iO ,Sebastian Badus (quoted by Bergen, Monogr. 84) gives an extract ra letter of a Spanish physician, D. Joseph Villerobel, from which d a J gpears that it was imported into Spain in 1632, though no trial was ®of it until 1639.