ing inhabitants being feized with a violent paroxyfm of
fever, and finding no other water to quench his thirft,
was forced to drink of this; by which he was perfectly
cured. He afterwards related the circumftance to others,
and prevailed upon fome of his friends who were ill of
fevers to make ufe .of the fame remedy; with whom it
proved equally fuccefsful*. The ufe of this excellent
medicine, however, was very little known till about the
y e?f *638; when a fignal cure having been performed by
it on the Spanilh viceroy’s lady, the Countefs del Cinchon,
at Lima, it came into general ufe, and hence: was diftin-
guifhed by the appellation Pulvis Comitiffie, or the Coun-
Jrefs’s Powder; alfo called, Cortex china china, or chinchi-
n a ; kina kina, or kinkina; and quina quina, or quinquina.
On the recovery of the Countefs fhe diftributed a
large quantity of the Bark to the Jefuits, in whdfe hands
it acquired ftill greater reputation, and by them it was
firfl: introduced into Europe f , and hence called Cortex,
or Pulvis jefuiticus, Pulvis Patrum; and alfo Cardinal de
Lugo’s Powder, becaufe that charitable prelate bought a
large quantity of it at a great expence for the rife o f the
religious poor of Rome.
“ This Bark is brought to us in pieces ofdifferent fifes*
Lome rolled up into fhort thick quills, and others flat: the’
outfide is brownilh, and generally, covered in part with a
* Mat. Med. Traite, p. 78.
t Louis the Fourteenth, when Dauphin, was faid to be one of the firfl in
Europe who experienced its efficacy.
whitifh
whitifh mofs: the infide is of a yellowifh reddifh or
rufty iron colour. The beft fort breaks clofe and fmooth,
and proves friable betwixt the teeth : the inferior kinds
appear when broken of a woody texture, and in chewing
feparate into fibres. The former pulverizes more
eafily than the latter, and looks, when powdered, of a
light-brownilh colour, refembling that of cinnamon, or
fomewhat paler. It has a flight fmell, approaching as it
were to muftinefs, yet fo much of the aromatic kind as
not to be difagreeable. Its tafte is confiderably bitter»
aftringent, very durable in the mouth, and accompanied
with fome degree of aromatic warmth, but not fufficient
to prevent its being ungrateful
Bolides this Bark, that of feveral other Ipecies o f Cinchona
have been recommended for medical ufe by different
authors, efpecially the Cortex peruvianus ruber, or red
Bark; alfo that of the Cinchona caribsea, or the Jamaica
Bark ; that of Cinchona floribunda produced at St. Lucie;
and that of two or three other fpecies difeovered at Santa
Ee. The firfl: o f thefe “ is in much larger and thicker
pieces than the common; moft of the pieces are concave,
though not rolled together like the quilled Bark. They
break fhort, like the beft common Bark, and appear evidently
compofed of three layers. The outer is thin,
rugged, frequently covered with a molly fubftance, and
of a reddilh-brown colour. The middle is thicker, more
* Lewis, M. M. p. 485. ..
F compact,
11