be learned from the volume of travels recently published by Mr. Markham,[1] and still more unquestionably from the success of the cinchona cultivation begun in India. 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; and amongst the many joint-stock schemes which have recently been presented to the capitalists of Britain, one not undeserving of favourable regard is for the cultivation of cinchonas on the Neilgherry Hills.
The Dutch have been less successful in Java; principally, it would seem, because the plants and seeds which they obtained were mostly those of a worthless species of cinchona. They did, however, introduce into Java two valuable species, of which the Indian cultivators have been glad to obtain plants in exchange. And cinchonas of the most valuable kinds, and suited to different climates, may now be regarded as fully introduced into India, Ceylon, and Java. The fact is equally delightful, when viewed from the positions of the political economist and of the philanthropist. It is to be regretted that, although the Indian government, with praiseworthy liberality, sent a portion of the plants and seeds, collected at its expense, to Jamaica, little attention has been paid to them in that island, the mountains of which seem a most likely place for their profitable cultivation. We may feel sure that the introduction of these trees into other countries will prove beneficial to South America itself. The present monopoly enriches only a few capitalists. Driven to compete with the rest of the world, in the supply of an article, the demand for which will rapidly increase with the reduction of the price, South Americans may also seek to render it more abundant by the cultivation of the trees in their native regions, with the happy results of employment and remuneration to great numbers of people, and an increase of national prosperity and human happiness.
It only remains for us to say a few words concerning the Peruvian Bark trees, and the alkaloids which they produce. The Peruvian name of these trees is Quina, or Quinquina, a modification of which, China, was long in general use among apothecaries and others, and is still in general use in some countries of Europe. Of the genus Cinchona, as established by Linnæus, nearly one hundred species are known, natives of various tropical countries, although abounding chiefly in the tropical parts of America. It has been divided, however, into a number of genera, and although the botanical characters by which some of them are distinguished very nearly approach those of the group for which alone the name Cinchona is now retained, it is an interesting fact that beyond the limits of that group no trace has been found of the peculiar alkaloids which give medicinal value to Peruvian Bark, whilst all the species of that group produce them in greater or less abundance. Apparently trivial distinctions, therefore, acquire importance from their observed relation to most valuable products and properties. Curly hairs on the margin of the segments of the corolla are one distinction of the true cinchonas; whilst another is the splitting of the ripe seed-vessels from the base upwards, and not from the apex downwards. And by these characters they may be at once discriminated from many trees very nearly resembling them. Of the genus, as thus restricted, about twenty species are known, all of them found in the Andes, between the nineteenth degree of South latitude and the tenth degree of North latitude; whilst it is further remarkable that the particular species have very limited latitudinal and altitudinal zones, within which alone they occur. 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. None of the cinchonas are found at an elevation of less than 2500 feet above the sea, and some extend as far up the mountains as 9000 or 10,000 feet. 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. They have evergreen, laurel-like leaves; their flowers have a general resemblance to those of lilac, which, however, they excel in beauty, and diffuse around the trees a delicious fragrance. If South America had a native poetry, these trees could not but have a poetic celebrity.
Peruvian Bark yields to the chemist not fewer than five alkaloids, of which no other source is known, not even in trees of the genera most nearly allied to the true cinchonas. These alkaloids are Quinine, Cinchonine, Quinidine, Cinchonidine, and Arecine. The proportion in which they exist in different kinds of bark, produced by different species of cinchona, or under different circumstances, is very various. Of the alkaloids themselves, Quinine is the most valuable, and Cinchonidine, much more recently discovered, is said to be next to it.
TIDINGS.
(FROM THE GERMAN OF GRÜN.)
From jousting homeward rides the Earl;
To meet him comes his trusty churl.
“Halt! halt there! Wherefore run’st thou? Say!
O whither wends my churl his way?”
- ↑ “Travels in Peru and India, while Superintending the Collection of Chinchona Plants and Seeds in South America, and their Introduction into India.” By Clements R. Markham, F.S.A., F.R.G.S., &c. London. 1862.
