Quinine. Quinine [ quinquina ] is called by our botanists kinakina , Peruvian bark [ cortex peruvianus ] or febrifuge bark [ cortex febrifugus ]. It is an extremely dry bark, of a thickness of two or three lines [about 5 to 7 mm.], which is, on the exterior, rough, brown, and sometimes covered with a whitish moss, and internally smooth, a little resinous, reddish or rust colored, very bitter, somewhat styptic, and with an aromatic odor that is not disagreeable.

Sometimes quinine is transported as rather large [pieces of] bark, in lengths of at least three or four inches, and in width an inch wide, not rolled: these are barks stripped from the trunk of the tree. Sometimes they are thin, rolled into little tubes, brown on the outside, lightly marked with circular lines and covered with foam; on the inside they are red: these are the bark of the small branches. Other times they are very small pieces, or very tiny cuttings, yellow internally and whitish on the outside. They say that this is the quinine which has been removed from the roots,nand it is highly regarded by the Spaniards.

One must select that which is red, or that which is drawn from the red, or from that of the color of cinnamon; it is not at all disagreeable to the taste, and its bitterness has something aromatic about it; the smell is slightly aromatic; friable as one breaks it with one’s teeth. One must reject that which is viscous, sticky, hard as wood, old, spoiled, faded, or falsified with the admixture of some other bark soaked in aloe sap.

The antipyretic tree of Peru, called quinine , china Chinæ , and ganaperide , Rai, hist. Palo de Calenturas [Sp. fever stick] of the Spanish, was never before described exactly until M. de la Condamine sent its description from Peru to the Academy of Sciences, where it was read in 1738.

One recognized from this description that it is a tree which is not particularly tall, whose trunk is neither thick nor thin and which gives rise to several branches. The leaves are carried by a stalk about half an inch long; they are smooth, complete, rather thick, opposite; their contour is smooth and lanceolate, rounded at the base, and terminating in a point: their average size is an inch and a half, or two inches long: they are crossed along their length, from one side where the lateral veins run, and they terminate by rounding off in parallel at the edge of the leaf.

Each branch at the top of the tree ends in one or several bunches of flowers, which resemble, before they are in full bloom, in their shape and their dark blue color, those of lavender. The common pedicule which supports these bunches of flowers originates in the leaf axils, and divides into several smaller pedicules, which each terminate in a calyx divided into five parts, bearing a simple flower, of the same size and the same form, rather like the hyacinth flower.

It has a long flower, of seven to nine lines [16 to 21 mm.], opening in a rosette, divided into five or sometimes six petals; these are a beautiful carmine red on the inside, vivid and dark in the center, and lighter towards the edges; their contour ends with a white, denticulate edging, which one doesn’t notice except in looking at them closely. From the base of the tube arises a white pistil, carrying a green and oblong head, which rises to the level of the petals and is surrounded by five stamens, which have pale yellow tips, and remain hidden within; this tube is, on the outside, a dirty red, and covered with whitish downy hair. The embryo changes into an olive-shaped capsule, which opens from top to bottom in two half-shells separated by a partition and lined with a thin, glossy, yellowish skin, from which almost at once escape flat reddish seeds, like pastry flakes. In drying the panels become shorter and wider.

The quinine tree itself comes from Peru which is a country of South America, above all from around Loxa or Loja [now in Ecuador], on the mountains surrounding this town, sixty leagues from Quito. The level of Loxa above the sea is about 80 leagues from the coast of Peru; the elevation of its ground is about midway between those of the mountains which form the great Cordelliera of the Andes and the valleys of the coast. Mercury maintained itself at Loxa, in February 1737 at 21 inches, 8 lines, from which one can conclude on the basis of wide experience obtained at known elevations, that the level of Loxa above the sea is about 800 toises [about 2100 meters above sea level]; the climate there is very mild, and the heat, while high, is not excessive.

The best quinine , at least the most famous, is collected in the mountains of Cajanuma, situated two and a half leagues to the south of Loxa; and it was from there that the first to be transported to Europe was taken. It has been less than 40 years since merchants furnished themselves with a notarized certificate that the quinine that they sold was from Cajanuma. M. de la Condamine, who was transported there in 1737, spent the night on the summit, in the dwelling of a native, to be more within reach of the quinine trees. The collection of their bark was the common occupation and sole business of this particular individual. On the road, at the location, and on the return trip, he had the leisure to see and examine several of these trees, and sketch on site, a drawing of a branch with its leaves, flowers, and seeds which one encounters at the same time during all seasons of the year.

One commonly distinguishes three species of quinine , although some count four; the white; the yellow, and the red. In Loxa it is claimed that these three species are only different in their good qualities, the white having hardly any, and the red being better than the yellow; and that in other respects the trees of the three species aren’t essentially different. It is true that the yellow and the red do not have any noticeable difference in the flower, in the leaf, in the fruit, or even in the exterior bark; one doesn’t distinguish by eye one from the other by the exterior, and it is only in making a cut that one recognizes the yellow by its bark, less highly colored, and softer. As for the rest, the yellow and the red grow beside one another, and their bark is collected without distinction; although the preference is for the red: In drying the difference becomes even less, one or the other bark is equally brown underneath. This is the surest sign of the goodness of quinine ; what the Spanish merchants express as “ envez prieta ” [Sp. dark underside]. One insists, in addition, that it be rough within, with cracks, and brittle.

As for white quinine , its leaf is rounder, less smooth than that of the other two, and even a little rough; its flower is also whiter, its seed larger, and its exterior bark whitish. It usually grows higher in the mountains, and one never finds that it is confused with the yellow and the red which grow halfway up the slopes, in the hollows and the gorges, and most particularly in sheltered places. It remains to be seen if the variations one notices don’t come from the difference in soil [ terroir ] and the greater cold to which it is exposed.

The quinine tree is never found on the plains. It grows straight, and one can discern it from afar from one side or the other. Its top rises above the neighboring trees that surround it; because one never finds quinine trees bunched together, but scattered and isolated among trees of other species. They become very big when they are allowed to grow. There are some larger than a man’s body, the average ones are eight or nine inches in diameter; but it is rare to find them of this size today in the mountains that have provided the first quinine : the large trees from which one pulled off the first bark are all dead today, having been entirely stripped. It has been recognized through experience that some of the young trees will also die after having been stripped.

One provides oneself with an ordinary knife for this operation, with which one takes the sheet with two hands; the worker first cuts the bark at the highest height where he can reach; and slowly from above, he takes it as far down as he can. It does not appear that the trees that are found around the place where the first were, should be of lower quality than the old ones, the situation and terroir are the same; the difference, if it isn’t accidental, could come only from the different age of the trees. The heavy consumption that has been made of it is the reason one almost never finds any today except the young, that are hardly bigger than the arm, nor higher than twelve to fifteen feet: those cut young fall down.

In the past, in Loxa the thickest barks were preferred, which one took apart with care, like the most precious; today one demands the finest. One could think that the merchants, in drawing up their accounts, in that the finest pack down better and occupy less volume in the sacks and leather chests, where one puts them half-crushed. However, the preference given to the finest barks, is well founded, and in consequence of chemical analyses, and of experience in England with one and the other bark. It is credible that difficulty in drying the thick barks perfectly, and the impression of humidity that they acquire easily and retain a long time, have contributed to their discredit. The common preconception is that for them never to lose their value, the tree has to be stripped during the waning of the moon and from the east side; and one didn’t omit in 1735, to testify to these circumstances in front of notaries, as well as to those that were gathered in the mountains of Cajanuma, when the last viceroy of Peru, the Marquis de Castel-Fuerte had a supply of quinine brought from Loxa, to take to Spain on his return.

The use of quinine was known to the Americans before it was to the Spaniards; and according to the manuscript letter of Antoine Bolli, a Genoese merchant who traded in the place, cited by Sebastien Badus, the natives of the country had long hidden this specific medicine from the Spaniards, which is very credible, given the antipathy for their conquerors that they hold up until today. As to their manner of use, it is said that they made an infusion in water throughout a day, the bark crushed, and they gave the beverage to the sick person to drink, without the dregs.

The good qualities of the quinine bark, although they had come to the knowledge of the Spaniards of Loxa, and were recognized in the whole of this canton, were for a long time unknown in the rest of the world, and the efficacy of this remedy did not acquire any celebrity until, in 1638, on the occasion of a stubborn tertiary fever from which the Contess of Chinchon, the vicereine of Peru, could not recover after several months, and although this part of the story is sufficiently well-known, I will retell it, here nevertheless, with several new details.

The corregidor of Loxa, a dependant of the Count of Chinchon, told of the stubbornness of the vicereine’s fever, sent to the viceroy, his patron, some quinine bark, assuring him in writing that it would bring about the countess’s cure, if one gave her this fever medicine; the corregidor was soon called to Lima, to control the dose, and the preparation; and after several experiments made with success on other ill people, the vicereine took the remedy and recovered. Soon she had sent from Loxa a quantity of the same bark, which she distributed to all those who needed it; and this remedy began to become famous under the name of Powder of the Countess . In the end she gave that which she had left of the quinine to the Jesuit fathers who continued to distribute it for free , and it therefore acquired the name of Jesuit Powder which it has carried for a long time in America and in Europe.

A little while later, the Jesuits. on the occasion when the Procurator General of the Peruvian Province traveled to Rome, sent a quantity to the Cardinal de Lugo, of their society, from whose palace they distributed it and afterwards to the apothecary of the Roman College, with the same success as in Lima, and under the same name, or that of Cardinal’s Powder , free of cost to the poor, and for great amounts of money to others in order to pay the expenses of transport, which continued until the end of the last century. One adds that this same Procurator of the Society, passing through France on his way to Rome, cured the fever, with quinine , of the late King Louis XIV, then heir to the throne.

In 1640, the Count and Countess of Chinchon having returned to Spain, their physician, Doctor Jean de Vega, who had followed them, and who had brought a supply of quinine , sold it in Seville for one hundred ecus the pound; it continued to have the same sale and the same reputation until when quinine trees that were not stripped became rare, some inhabitants of Loxa, driven by greed, and completely unable to supply the quantities requested in Europe, mixed different barks in the shipments they sent to the markets in Panama; this having been recognized, the quinine of Loxa fell into such discredit, that one didn’t want to give a half-piastre the pound, for that which previously one gave 4 and 6 piastres in Panama, and 12 in Seville.

In 1690 several tons of this bark remained at Piura and on the beach at Payta, the nearest port to Loxa, without anybody wanting to send them on; it was this that began the ruin of Loxa, the place is today as poor as it was once opulent in the time that its commerce flourished.

Among the various barks that were often mixed with those of quinine , and which are still sometimes mixed in to augment the weight and volume, one of the principal is that of Sorbus which has a more styptic taste, and a redder color on the interior and a whiter outside; but that which is the most likely to deceive is a bark called cacharilla , from a tree common in the country, which has no other resemblance to quinine but its bark; one can distinguish it, nevertheless, and knowledgeable people don’t let it deceive them. There is every reason to believe that this cacharilla bark is that which we know under the name of chacril . After a few years, to prevent this fraud, the precaution was taken that had previously been neglected, of inspecting each bale particularly, and at Payta where the largest portion of the quinine destined for Europe is put on ship for Panama, no bale, if it does not come from a very reliable source, is put on board without inspection.

One must, nevertheless, admit that in spite of this precaution, then, that the buyers, who, for the most part, don’t know it, and who never, or almost never have gone to Loxa to make their purchases, must, of necessity, have faith in the sellers of Payta, or of Guayaquil, who often don’t have it first hand, and don’t know any better. Wise regulations to assure the good faith of a commerce useful to health would not be an object unworthy of the attention of his Catholic Majesty.

Every day one finds in the mountains of Cajanuma near Loxa, and in the environs of the same chain of mountains, new quinine trees; these are those of Ayavaca, about 30 leagues from Loxa towards the southwest; this quinine has a good reputation; also those that dedicate themselves to this trade, and who discover some new place where these trees abound, are careful not to reveal this.

The quinine tree has also been discovered in different places rather distant from Loxa, as in the area of Riobamba, 40 leagues north of Loxa, in the vicinity of Cuenca, a degree north of Loxa, a little more to the east; and finally in the mountains of Jaën, 50 or 60 leagues to the southeast of Loxa.

The quantity of quinine that arrives every year in Europe, has convinced everyone in Peru that in Europe it serves as a dye; whether or not one has formerly tried this, or not, the notion is an old one, since from the time that it was denounced as a fraud of those of Loxa, it’s said that the merchants of Europe complained that they didn’t find the least efficacity against fevers, nor excellence for dyes.

The name of quinine is American: but the bark that carries that name in Europe is not known in Peru and at Loxa under that name, but as corteza [Sp. bark] or cascara [Sp. rind], or, more commonly cascarilla [Sp. little bark], bark of Loxa, or little bark; the name Jesuit Powder , nor that of fever wood , palo de calenturas [Sp. fever stick] are no longer in use today; but there is another very celebrated tree known in South America, under the name of quina quina , and in the province of Maynas, on the banks of the Marañon, under the name of tatché ; from this tree trickles down from an incision an odorous resin; the seeds are called by the Spaniards pepitas de quina quina [Sp. pips of quina quina], of which the form is that of beans, or flat kernels, and they are contained in a sort of folded leaf; they also contain between the kernel and the exterior envelope a little of that same resin that trickles from the tree. Their main usage is to make fumigations, which are claimed to be healthy and comforting, but these had been given more credit than they have today.

The natives of the country make from the resinous gum, or balm of this tree, balls or masses that they take to sell at Potosi and in Chuquisaca, where they serve not only to perfume, but also for other medicinal uses, both as a salve, as well as an oil that is extracted; and finally, without any preparation, by carrying these balls in the hand, and handling them there without pause, to aid sweating and fortify the nerves. The Turks make precisely the same usage of labdanum: what remains is to know how and why the Loxa bark acquired in Europe and in the rest of the world, apart from its place of origin, the name of quinine .

Among the various good qualities that are attributed to the balsamic tree that we will speak about, and always called quina quina by the natives, and later by the Spanish, the most considerable is its bark, which serves as an excellent fever medicine. Before the discovery of the Loxa tree, this other one had a great reputation for curing tertiary fevers, and the Jesuits of La Paz or Chuquiabo, harvested its bark, which is extremely bitter, with great care; they were accustomed to send it to Rome where they distributed it under its true name of quina quina . The Loxa bark passed in Europe and in Rome under the same name, the new fever medicine was confused with the old; and that of Loxa having prevailed, it kept the name of the first, which is today almost entirely forgotten; the name of cascarilla or little bark, is given to that of Loxa, it seems also to have been imposed, to distinguish one from the other, which was without doubt that of the old fever medicine.

It has happened to quinine that which happens to almost all common remedies and of little value, in the countries where they are born, and where they are found, to say as well, close to hand. In Peru, generally speaking, one makes little use of it, and on few occasions: one is afraid of it and it is put to little use in Lima, a little less in Quito, and hardly any in Loxa. However, in Europe the market for it is prodigious, for the specific excellent quality that it has in curing intermittent fevers; however, if the fever is the symptom of another illness, it’s in vain and inappropriate to administer the febrifuge bark; the fever won’t cease without curing the particular illness from which it originates; one also knows that quinine isn’t a remedy for fevers that are continuous, inflammatory, putrid, malignant and pestilential; therefore one can but regard this bark as an antidote only for intermittent fevers.

We read in the memoirs of Edinburgh, that the able physicians and surgeons have made use of quinine with great success against gangrene and spacelus [a blood disease], which come from an external or an internal cause, and that hopeless invalids, after having tried, without success, all other remedies, regain perfect health by using it. If it is true that quinquina has such marvelous qualities as curing sick people attacked by gangrene or by spacelus, it will, therefore, become one hundred times more expensive among men than it is for its qualities as a fever medicine.