16 Afterwards The Jesuits Used It; Hence It Is Sometimes Called
Jesuit's bark. It was brought most particularly into notice when
Louis XIV of France purchased of Sir R. Talbor, an Englishman, his
heretofore secret remedy for intermittent fever, and made it
public.
There are various barks in commerce classified under the head of
Peruvian barks.
Their great value depends upon the presence of
certain alkaloid substances called quinine, cinchonine, and
quinidine, which exist in the bark in combination with tannic and
other acids. Quinine is the most useful of these alkaloids, and
this is found in greatest quantities in Calisaya bark. The gray
bark of Huanuco is derived from _Cinchona micrantha_, which is
characterized by its yield of cinchonine, and the Loxa or Loja
barks are furnished in part by _Cinchona officinalis_, and are
especially rich in quinidine. There is some uncertainty about the
trees that produce the various kinds of bark. These trees grow in
the forests of Bolivia and Peru, at various elevations on the
mountains, but chiefly in sheltered mountain valleys, and all of
them at a considerable distance below the frost or snow line. They
are destroyed by the slightest frost. Plants of various species
have been distributed from time to time, in localities which
seemed most favorable to their growth, but all reports from these
distributions have, so far, been discouraging.
Previous: Cinchona Calisaya
Next: Cinnamomum Cassia
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