rior, and the corolla tubular, 5-lobed and fringed at the
margin. The stamens are 5, almost concealed by the tubular corolla, and
the ovary terminates in a fleshy disk. The fruit is an ovoid or
subcylindrical capsule, splitting from the base, and held together at
the apex. The numerous seeds are flat and winged all round. About 40
species have been distinguished, but of these not more than about a
dozen have been economically utilized. The plants are natives of the
western mountainous regions of South America, their geographical range
extending from 10 deg. N. to 22 deg. S. lat.; and they flourish generally
at an elevation of from 5000 to 8000 ft. above sea-level, although some
have been noted growing as high up as 11,000 ft., and others have been
found down to 2600 ft.

The trees are valued solely on account of their bark, which long has
been the source of the most valuable febrifuge or antipyretic medicine,
quinine (q.v.), that has ever been discovered. The earliest
well-authenticated instance of the medicinal use of cinchona bark is
found in the year 1638, when the countess of Chinchon (hence the name),
the wife of the governor of Peru, was cured of an attack of fever by its
administration. The medicine was recommended in her case by the
corregidor of Loxa, who was said himself to have practically experienced
its supreme virtues eight years earlier. A knowledge of the bark was
disseminated throughout Europe by members of the Jesuit brotherhood,
whence it also became generally known as Jesuits' bark. According to
another account, this name arose from its value having been first
discovered to a Jesuit missionary who, when prostrate with fever, was
cured by the administration of the bark by a South American Indian. In
each of the above instances the fever was no doubt malaria.

The procuring of the bark in the dense forests of New Granada, Ecuador,
Peru and Bolivia is a work of great toil and hardship to the Indian
_cascarilleros_ or _cascadores_ engaged in the pursuit. The trees grow
isolated or in small clumps, which have to be searched out by the
experienced _cascarillero_, who laboriously cuts his way through the
dense forest ta the spot where he discovers a tree. Having freed the
stem from adhering parasites and twining plants, he proceeds, by beating
and cutting oblong pieces, to detach the stem bark as far as is within
his reach. The tree is then felled, and the entire bark of stem and
branches secured. The bark