Cinchona Introduction India

Author:未知
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: India, Cinchona, Malaria, botany
Published: 1863-03-25T16:00:00+00:00

— No. 60. —

From Dr. Macpherson, Inspector General of Hospitals, to the Secretary to the Principal Inspector General, Medical Department.

Sir, Madras, 10 December 1860.

1. In my letter No. 42, dated Singapore, 1st September last, I reported to the Principal Inspector General that an unforeseen detention in the Straits Settlements determined me to proceed to Java, with the double object of procuring a passage to Labuan, and personally to examine into the mode of culture and propagation of the cinchona tree, which I understood had been successfully introduced into that island from South America.

2. On the 80th October following, I reported that I had railed to get a passage to Labuan, but that I had free access to the Government cinchona plantations and nurseries, and that it was my intention to embody the knowledge I had acquired regarding the culture and propagation of this valuable tree, in a translation from the Dutch of a pamphlet entitled, " Kina Kultur in the Island of Java," presented to me by the authors, Drs. Junghuhn and DeVrij, two gentlemen in the service of the local government, in special charge of the plantations.

3. I am now engaged in drawing up a report in reply to the queries of the Royal Commission on the sanitary state of the Indian Army. On the completion of this work, it will be my duty to inspect the military establishments in the province of Pegu. But before proceeding thither, althousrh I have not yet

11 ** *4 received

received the treatise referred to above, I will without further delay convey to the* Principal Inspector General, for the information of Government, the result of my observation and iuquiries, as these may be of some service in advancing the active-endeavours now being made to naturalize on our mountain ranges probably the-most important genus in the whole Botanical Materia Medica.

4. The medico-botanical history of cinchona, introduced into Europe in 1640, is still imperfectly understood, and all relating to it continues a subject of intricate and important inquiry. Of the 26 species admitted, 12 furnish a part of the barks of commerce. They are all either tall shrubs, or lofty evergreen trees, adorned with beautiful shining leaves, two inches long by two broad, rising from 30 to 40 feet in height; the older and thicker stems have now become, scarce; those now found seldom exceed six inches in diameter; but when protected by dense forest, they rapidly run up to 40 or 60 feet in height.

5. The tree is supposed to be indigenous in a meridianal distance through-Columbia, Peru, and Bolivia, extending from the 11th degree north to the 20th degree south of the line, growing on rich surface-mould, covering a substratum of mica slate and gneiss, at an altitude of from 4,000 to 8,000 feet above the sea, where the temperature is equable, and varies between 59 and 66 degrees-of Fahrenheit.

6. The cascarilleros or peelers usually destroy the tree by stripping off its bark as it stands ; whereas were they to cut it close

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