Products of The Empire Cinchona A Short History Cambridge University Library

Products of the Empire: Cinchona: a short history | Cambridge University Library
Quick links Search
Study at Cambridge About the University Research at Cambridge
Collections All collections & departments Royal Commonwealth Society Projects & exhibitions .
Cambridge University Library
Home Using the Library Research Teaching and Learning What's On Search and Find Collections
About Giving Contact
Products of the Empire: Cinchona: a short history

Cambridge University Library
Collections European Discovery

Pre-cinchona treatments
Contact us
Importance of bark
All collections & departments
Quinine Please address enquiries
Experimentation about RCS holdings to:
Royal Commonwealth Cultivation
Society Ledgeriana RCS Curator
Harvesting Cambridge University
Quinine in Recent History Library
Projects & exhibitions Bibliography West Road
Disclaimer Cambridge
Archives cataloguing CB3 9DR
project (2002) The cinchona - a large shrub or small tree - is indigenous
Email: rcs@lib.cam.ac.uk
to South America. In the 19th century it could be found
Civilian internment
along the west coast from Venezuela in the north to Bolivia Telephone: +44(0)1223
Colonial Blue Books in the south. Its bark, also known as Peruvian Bark or 333146.
Jesuit’s Bark, is renowned for its medicinal properties. It
Commonwealth Cultures in produces a number of alkaloids, namely cinchonine, Please note that we are
a decolonising world cinchonidine, quinine, quinidine and quinamine. By far the unable to provide
Marshall Islands sailing most valuable of these is quinine, a drug used to treat valuations. We
charts malaria, which according to a report of the Commissions of recommend you contact a
Medical Officers of the Government in India, possesses specialist antiquarian
Opium - A "morally “more than any other that can be named, the confidence bookseller or auction
indefensible trade in a of medical practitioners [in India]”. All the alkaloids, with house.
"horrible drug" (2007) the exception of sulphate of cinchonine, are known for
Products of the Empire: their febrifugal properties. As a result of the popularity of
Cinchona: a short history quinine, however, these have, according to T.C. Owen in
his Cinchona planter’s manual, fallen “into unmerited
RCS Digital Library neglect".
RCS Slide Show
Southern African
collections: a co-curation
Tales of the unexpected
(2005)
Unlocking the RCS archives
(2006)
Visiting the Library

Cinchona Chahuarguera
Induction notes (From Howard's Nueva Quinologia de Pavon) in
Markam's Peruvian Bark
Collections
European Discovery
Services
Useful links
https://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/rcs/projects-exhibitions/products-empire-cinchona-short-history[26/06/2023 15:09:43]
Catalogues & remote

access
Contact us
Jesuit missionary,
painting from 1779
(Wikipedia)
The Condesa de Cinchón
by Francis Goya
(Wikipedia)
Cinchona is believed to derive its name from the Countess
of Chinchon, wife of a Spanish Viceroy of Peru. After
contracting “an attack of fever” whilst visiting Peru in
1630, the Countess is alleged to have been cured by the
cinchona bark. The more usual spelling ‘cinchona’, without
the initial 'h' being the result of an early error. Clements
Robert Markham, leader of the British expedition to South
America, in 1860, was a great proponent of trying to re-
establish the name “chinchona” which he believed to be
correct. According to Poser and Bruyn in their An
illustrated history of malaria, however, this story has, in
recent years, been almost completely rejected owing to
the research of Jospeh Rompel, Rubem Vargas Ugarte,
Alec Haggis and Jaime Jaramillo-Arango.
Though there is some confusion over how cinchona bark
first entered Europe what is clear is that the Jesuit
missionaries were aware of its potential from a very early
stage. According to the online Catholic Encyclopaedia they
had “learned the healing power of the bark from natives
during the years 1620-1630” and, according to Poser and
Bruyn, it was being used in Jesuit colleges in Genoa, Lyon,
Louvain and Ratisbon from 1650.
Pre-cinchona treatments
The Amputation - Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827)

Until the appearance of cinchona in Europe during the mid
17th century medical practitioners treated victims of
fevers, and malaria in particular, using primitive methods
such as limb amputation, purging, blood-letting, the
administration of herbs, rest, massage, hydrotherapy and
a controlled diet. More unconventional methods included
the wearing of amulets, the application of split pickled
herrings to the feet, placing the fourth book of the Iliad
under a patient’s head, throwing a patient head first into a
bush in the hope he would get out quickly enough to leave
his fever behind and “the embrace of a bald-headed
Brahmin widow at dawn” (Poser and Bruyn). Some of
these more eccentric methods, such as the use of spiders
and their webs, were even endorsed by respectable
gentlemen. As late as 1886 Dr. J. Donaldson wrote in the
November issue of the Indian Medical Gazette that he
found “orally administered cobwebs of greater value than
quinine”.
Importance of bark
RCS/Y303E/45
Photograph collection of
John Abercromby Alexander

According to Kew, from the 17th century to the 1940s
cinchona bark and its derived quinine alkaloids were the
most effective treatment for malaria. Initially the bark,
which was stripped from the tree, was dried, crushed into
small pieces and turned into various tinctures. In England,
Robert Talbor, a man from a prominent Cambridge family,
is credited with the “elaboration and spread of cinchona
bark therapy” (Poser and Bruyn). Talbor was the
physician of Charles II and later that of Louis XIV and the
Queen of Spain under the name of Talbot. Despite “the
promptness of its effect and its infallibility” which “made it
suspect for such a long time”, according to Ignace Vincent
Voullonne writing in the early 18th century, cinchona bark
“finally triumphed over the multiple reproaches that were
heaped upon it … by ignorance, prejudice, the arrogance of
sects [and] the hatred of the parties.” The use of this

“Popish powder” had elicited considerable religious
prejudice because of its association with the Jesuits. As
demand grew, however, lack of experience of the bark,
uneven consignments, incorrect identification, and the
frequent and deliberate pollution of the product by adding
the bark of other trees, all ensured the argument over its
value was kept alive well into the 19th century.
Quinine
Portrait of Sir Clements Markham KCB FRS (1830-1916)
President of the Royal Geographical Society 1893-1905
by George Henry (1858–1943)
© Royal Geographical Society with IBG

Powdered cinchona bark “administered in various forms
and in various vehicles remained the main anti-malarial
agent until 1820” (Poser and Bruyn) in which year,
according to Kew, the first quinine alkaloids were extracted
and described by Pierre Pelletier and Joseph Caventou. By
1825 these had become the standard treatment for
malaria. Indeed “cinchona bark and its derived quinine
alkaloids” were “taking on an increasingly important role in
the occupation and safe administration of tropical colonies”
(Kew). As early as 1768 cinchona bark was being used as
a prophylactic with James Lind, a British naval surgeon in
the services of King George III, recommending that as
long as a ship lay at anchor in a tropical port “every man
receive a daily ration of cinchona powder”. This was a
practice continued by Alexander Bryson, later Director
General of the British Naval Medical Service, when quinine
replaced cinchona powder (Poser and Bruyn). Increased
demand led to problems in supply. Trees were being felled
in indigenous regions, prices rising and supplies
diminishing. Thus in 1852 a Dutch expedition, followed by
a British expedition in 1860 led by Sir Clements Markham,
was sent to South America in order to procure cinchona
seeds and plants which could be established on plantations
in the colonies. Transportation of these seeds and saplings
posed its own difficulties. In the Cinchona planter’s
manual, for example, Owen describes how on flat land
“bridges are often necessary for crossing ravines.”
Taken from Return to an address of the honourable the House of

Commons, dated 3 May 1870;--
for "copy of all correspondence between the Secretary of State for India
and the Governor General,
and the governors of Madras and Bombay, relating to the cultivation of

chinchona plants,
from April 1866 to April 1870."
Experimentation
In the early days of cultivation experiments were made in
various countries within the British Empire - in India,
Burma, Ceylon, Malaya, the Sudan, St. Helena, Jamaica,
Trinidad, Mauritius, Australia and New Zealand - but these
were not always pursued to a definite conclusion (Cowan).
Outside the British Empire the tree was introduced into
Java, West and East Africa, St. Helena, West Indies, Fiji,
Madagascar, Reunion, Mexico, Central America, Columbia
and Bolivia. With the exception of Java, India and Ceylon,
however, cultivation never “added appreciably to the
world’s supply of the bark” (Bulletin of the Imperial
Institute).
Cultivation
Cinchona plants at Ootacamund, August 1861
From Travels in Peru and India,
C.R. Markham, 1862
Reproduced in Geographical Journal
A chinchona nursery on Munsong Plantation
(Empire Forestry Journal v.8, no.1)

Cinchona did not prove the easiest plant to grow.
Medicinal species cannot stand frost, trees prefer a cool
climate with little contrast between summer and winter
and day and night temperatures, and do not like stagnant
moisture at their roots or direct sunlight. In consequence
they cannot grow on flat land and prefer a rich soil
(Watt). In Madras seed beds were protected by “light
pandals” of fern simply stuck in the ground, sufficiently
thick to shade the soil. The plant also has an
“extraordinary habit of sporting or hybridizing” a
peculiarity which is “most marked in the finest species”

(Owen). Furthermore, of the 65 species of the genus
Cinchona of the Index Kewensis, referred to in Cowan’s
article of 1929, only three are noted as giving off a
sufficient percentage of alkaloid to be worth cultivating.
Ledgeriana
Original Ledgeriana Trees,
60 years old
(Malayan Agricultural Journal v.19)

Unfortunately the early species exported from South
America were found to possess low percentages of
quinine. The percentage could vary not only from species
to species and from plantation to plantation but different
quantities could be extracted from the bark on different
sides of the same tree. However, with yields generally as
low as 1.5% production did not, therefore, promise to be
an economic success. This changed when in 1865 “seeds
of quinine plants were smuggled out of South America by
Charles Ledger … for a fee of about 20 dollars (about the
cost of Manhattan Island!)” that contained a surprisingly
high quinine content, ranging from 8-13.25%. This variety
became known as the Cinchona Calisaya Ledgeriana and
its export ultimately “destroyed the South American
monopoly on quinine”. Manuel Mamani, who was Ledger’s
servant and had helped him to obtain the seeds, was
“jailed, beaten, and eventually starved to death for his
participation in the scheme.”
(http://www.botgard.ucla.edu)
Harvesting
According to Owen, there are four methods of harvesting
the bark - stripping and renewing, scraping, coppicing and
uprooting. The complete uprootal of trees and the
collection of the whole bark from root, trunk and branches
being the method deployed in South America leading to
such a depletion of resources there. In 1863, however, Mr
McIver discovered that, “if a portion of the bark of a living
cinchona be carefully removed so as not to injure the
young wood of the tree the removed bark will, provided
certain precautions are taken, gradually be renewed.”
(Watt). Furthermore this renewed bark proved richer in
alkaloids than the original, particularly if excluded from
light whilst growing. Watt provides a useful description of
this method in which “the barker with the sharpened point
of an ordinary pruning knife, makes several cuts running
down the stem parallel to each other, about an inch apart,
and then with the blunt back of his knife, he raises every
alternate narrow strip and removes it from the tree”. If
successfully executed, without damaging the layer of
cambium cells, which lies between the bark and wood of
the tree, “a new layer of bark will be formed in the place of
that which has been taken away”. After 3 years the strips
left on the tree can be removed and the process repeated

every 3 years until the tree dies or is too old to regrow its
bark sufficiently. Owen writes in his Cinchona planter’s
manual that this is “work which requires constant
European supervision.”
RCS/Y303E/47 RCS/Y303E/46 RCS/Y303E/46
Photograph collection of Photograph collection of Photograph collection of
John Abercromby Alexander John Abercromby Alexander John Abercromby Alexander
The Dutch Monopoly

Following the introduction of Ledgeriana cinchona
plantations began to attract private enterprises particularly
as the Netherlands East Indian Government were prepared
to supply free seeds and cuttings. By the 1890s
production was considerably in excess of demand, not
helped by the Remija species being discovered in northern
parts of Africa. During this time whilst Java planters
concentrated on lowering the cost of production and
improving the cultivation of cinchona to withstand the
depression (Kerboesch) in Ceylon, at least, cinchona was
“everywhere being uprooted to make way for tea” (Dr.
King). Tea giving a more certain return and being easier
to cultivate.
From Bulletin of the Imperial Institue, v.16 (1918)
Furthermore, in 1913 an agreement was drawn up

between the Javan cinchona producers and the
manufacturers of quinine in Java, England, Holland and
Germany to put an end to the “great variation in price
which jeopardised the security of the bark producers.”
(Kerboesch) This resulted in a situation where “for many
years past the Netherlands East India Cinchona plantations
have produced 97% of total world production while British
India has produced 2.5% and the rest of the world 0.5%.
This situation is confirmed by Cowan, when he states that
“India, the only cinchona producing country of

consequence other than Java makes no attempt to supply
the needs of other parts of the Empire”, in fact, “she, in
common with the rest of the world, looks to the Dutch
Plantations in Java to aid her in her misfortune.” Writing
in 1929, Cowan goes on to say that, according to Dr.
Balfour, the “direct loss sustained by the British Empire
due to sickness and death caused by malaria is said … to
amount to between £52,000,000 and £62,000,000 each
year. Whilst, in practice, the production of quinine “took
into account the law of supply and demand” “millions of
sufferers are [and continue to be] so poor that they would
be unable to purchase quinine at even the approximate
cost of production.” A situation which, in 1931, Kerboesch
was already calling for the League of Nations to assess.
Quinine in Recent History

Already by the early 20th century quinine was proving
ineffective in treating some patients. It was also seen to
have a number of unpleasant side-effects, if consumed in
quantity including nausea and tinnitus (Kew). After the
outbreak of World War II supplies of the drug became, in
any case, inaccessible to the Allies as “the world supply of
cultivated quinine trees in Asia (especially in Indonesia and
Java) was captured by Japan” and quinine reserves in
Amsterdam were captured by Germany
(http://www.botgard.ucla.edu). Thus research into
synthetic antimalarials such as Atrabine and Chloroquine
were encouraged. Despite the foundation of research
committees in both the US and the UK specifically for the
purpose of producing synthetic antimalarials though, Poser
and Bruyn argue that, “the process proved too expensive
and complicated for commercial exploitation”. Although
synthetic antimalarials have been developed much further
in recent years, according to the WHO [link] in 2006 over
247 million people were affected by malaria and of those
almost 1 million died. Indeed a child is reported to die of
malaria every 30 seconds. It is perhaps no surprise then
that the WHO recommended in 2004 that “all countries
facing shortages increase procurement of their second-line
antimalarial treatment, which is generally quinine” and
that David Greenwood stated in 1999 that “the century
that started by relying on the bark of a tree to treat
malaria may end by returning to a natural product.”
Malaria geographic distribution
(Wikipedia)
Bibliography
Monographs:
T.N. Christie: Prize Essay on Cinchona
Cultivation (Colombo: A.M.&J. Ferguson, 1883)
A.H. Markham: The Life of Sir Clements R.

Markham (London: John Murray, 1917)
C.R. Markham: Peruvian Bark (London: John Murray,

1880)
T.C. Owen: The Chinchona Planter's Manual (Colombo:

A.M.&J. Ferguson, 1881)
C.M. Poser and G.W. Bruyn: An Illustrated History of

Malaria (New York: Parthenon, 1999)
G. Watt: Dictionary of the Economic Products of India, v.2

Cabbage to Cyperus (Calcutta: Printed by the
Superintendent of Govt. Printing, India, 1889)
Journals:
J. M. Cowen: Cinchona in the Empire. Progress and
prospects of its cultivation in Empire Forestry Journal, v.8,
no. 1 (July 1929) pp.45-53
D. Williams Clements Robert Markham and the

Introduction of the Cinchona Tree into British India,
1861 in The Geographical Journal, v.128, pt.4 (1962)
pp.431-442
Cinchona Culture in Java in The Malayan Agricultural

Journal v.19 (1931) pp.267-268 and 291-296
The Future of the Trade in Cinchona Bark in Bulletin of the

Imperial Institute, v.16 (1918) pp.370-388
Websites:
http://www.kew.org/collections/ecbot/collections/topic/cinchona/index.html
http://www.botgard.ucla.edu
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs094/en/
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2004/pr77/en/
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08372b.htm
https://www.countway.harvard.edu/chm/rarebooks/exhibits/satires/page_2.html
http://images.rgs.org/ Includes images of Markham and

cinchona
Electronic resources:
http://parlipapers.chadwyck.co.uk/home.do
1863 (118) Return to an address of the Honourable the
House of Commons, dated 9 March 1863; -- for, "copy of
correspondence relating to the introduction of the
chinchona plant into India, and to proceedings connected
with its cultivation, from March 1952 to March 1863."
House of Commons, dated 14 March 1866; -- for, "copy
of correspondence relating to the introduction of the
chinchona plant into India, and to proceedings connected
with its cultivation, from April 1863 to April 1866."
House of Commons, dated 3 May 1870; -- for "copy of
all correspondence between the Secretary of State for
India and the Governor General, and the governors of
Madras and Bombay, relating to the cultivation of
chinchona plants, from April 1866 to April 1870."
House of Commons, dated 8 July 1875; -- for copies of
the chinchona correspondence (in continuation of return
of 1870) from August 1870 to July 1875."
1877 (279) Further return to an address of the
Honourable the House of Commons, dated 8 July 1875; -

- for copies of the chinchona correspondence (in
continuation of return of 1870) from August 1870 to July
1875."
Disclaimer
We cannot absolutely guarantee that we have not
unwittingly and despite our best endeavours infringed
someone's copyright. In the event that such an
infringement is brought to our notice, we will remove the
image or images from this web site within 3 days of
notification. We further welcome any information that
might help us make proper attributions, identify copyright
owners, or correct copyright acknowledgements as the
origins of our collections are sometimes obscure.
Contact us Privacy Policy Social Media Join us

Cambridge University Privacy Policy Library blogs Job opportunities
Library, West Road,
Instagram
Cambridge CB3 9DR, UK
Diversifying Collections Twitter Your Comments
Email: library@lib.cam.ac.uk
and Practices
Tel: +44 (0) 1223 333000 Facebook Comments Form
Diversifying Collections YouTube
Fax: +44 (0) 1223 333160 and Practices
Study at Cambridge About the University Research at Cambridge
Undergraduate How the University and News

© 2023 University of Postgraduate Colleges work Features
Cambridge International students Visiting the University Discussion
University A-Z Continuing education Map Spotlight on...
Contact the University News
Executive and professional About research at Cambridge
Accessibility
education Events
Freedom of information
Terms and conditions Courses in education Jobs
Giving to Cambridge

Products of The Empire Cinchona A Short History Cambridge University Library

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Products of The Empire Cinchona A Short History Cambridge University Library

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Products of the Empire: Cinchona: a short history | Cambridge University Library

Quick links Search

Study at Cambridge About the University Research at Cambridge

Cambridge University Library

About Giving Contact

Products of the Empire: Cinchona: a short history

Collections European Discovery

Visiting the Library

Catalogues & remote

painting from 1779

The Condesa de Cinchón

The Amputation - Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827)

John Abercromby Alexander

sects [and] the hatred of the parties.” The use of this

Portrait of Sir Clements Markham KCB FRS (1830-1916)

President of the Royal Geographical Society 1893-1905

by George Henry (1858–1943)

© Royal Geographical Society with IBG

Taken from Return to an address of the honourable the House of

and the Governor General,

and the governors of Madras and Bombay, relating to the cultivation of

from April 1866 to April 1870."

Cinchona plants at Ootacamund, August 1861

From Travels in Peru and India,

C.R. Markham, 1862

Reproduced in Geographical Journal

A chinchona nursery on Munsong Plantation

(Empire Forestry Journal v.8, no.1)

peculiarity which is “most marked in the finest species”

Original Ledgeriana Trees,

(Malayan Agricultural Journal v.19)

left on the tree can be removed and the process repeated

RCS/Y303E/47 RCS/Y303E/46 RCS/Y303E/46

Photograph collection of Photograph collection of Photograph collection of

John Abercromby Alexander John Abercromby Alexander John Abercromby Alexander

The Dutch Monopoly

From Bulletin of the Imperial Institue, v.16 (1918)

Furthermore, in 1913 an agreement was drawn up

“India, the only cinchona producing country of

Quinine in Recent History

Malaria geographic distribution

Cultivation (Colombo: A.M.&J. Ferguson, 1883)

A.H. Markham: The Life of Sir Clements R.

C.R. Markham: Peruvian Bark (London: John Murray,

T.C. Owen: The Chinchona Planter's Manual (Colombo:

C.M. Poser and G.W. Bruyn: An Illustrated History of

G. Watt: Dictionary of the Economic Products of India, v.2

D. Williams Clements Robert Markham and the

Cinchona Culture in Java in The Malayan Agricultural

The Future of the Trade in Cinchona Bark in Bulletin of the

http://images.rgs.org/ Includes images of Markham and

Honourable the House of Commons, dated 8 July 1875; -

Contact us Privacy Policy Social Media Join us

Study at Cambridge About the University Research at Cambridge

Undergraduate How the University and News

You might also like