Cinchona and the Colonies

“What is it?” he asked weakly.

“It is called Peruvian bark, Mr. Lowe. It has been blended with wine to make it easier to ingest.”

             Excerpt from The Road to Deer Run

The character of Daniel Lowe in the above-mentioned book was fortunate that Widow Thomsen was familiar with effective medicinals. She knew that this drug—Peruvian bark or cinchona—would be an effective treatment for the terrible symptoms that malaria could cause.

The wonderful discovery of Peruvian bark was truly a Godsend to the American colonists. Otherwise known as cinchona, the bark of this South American tree contained quinine. When added to wine, the alcohol allowed the substance to leach into the drink, producing a medicine that would treat the fever and chills of malaria.

The marshy lowlands throughout the thirteen colonies, but especially in the South, were filled with malaria-carrying mosquitoes. With a quick and painful bite to humans, these insects could spread a parasite that caused the dreaded malaria. The mosquitos were no respecter of class, as both wealthy and poor suffered greatly from the fever, headache, and chills that returned on a regular basis to malaria victims. The only advantage that the wealthy had was their ability to purchase escape from the lowlands where the mosquitoes thrived during the worst of the summer months.

Although cold winters could kill off mosquitoes every year, the northern colonies were not exempt from the disease. There were outbreaks of malaria in Massachusetts in 1634, 1647, 1650, and 1668. In 1775, Congress allotted $300 for quinine to protect George Washington’s troops from malaria.

When Brigadier General John Glover escorted the British prisoners of war out of Saratoga, New York, in 1777, he suffered from a “mysterious illness,” which caused chills, headaches, dizziness, and nausea, followed by high fever. Although he took the medicinal quinine, these attacks—assumed to be malaria by a researcher—continued as new parasites continued to grow in his bloodstream.

Some of the thousands of British prisoners on this trek under Glover had already suffered as well from the mosquito-borne disease. Once you had malaria, it was usually your life-long, unwelcome companion.

The earliest journal accounts of the medicinal qualities of Peruvian bark date back to the late 1500’s. The use of the “fever tree” bark was introduced into European medicine by Jesuit missionaries who brought the cinchona compound back to Europe in the early 1600’s.

The name “cinchona” has its own unique history. In 1638, the Countess of Chinchon, wife of the Viceroy of Peru, was suffering from waves of fever and chills that threatened her life. In the Viceroyalty of Peru, the court physician was summoned to treat her but all his efforts failed. He decided to administer medicine that he had obtained from the local Quechua Indians, who had been using the bark of this tree to treat similar symptoms. The Countess survived and legend says that she brought the cinchona bark back with her to Europe in the 1640’s.

Rawhide bag for cinchona bark, brought from Peru in 1777

The story was so well known that in 1742, botanist and physician Carl Linnaeus decided to name the tree “cinchona.” Linnaeus held the belief that every plant should have a name.

In order to be prepared for medicinal use, the bark of the cinchona tree is stripped off, dried, and powdered before being added to wine. The bark is also called Jesuit’s bark or Peruvian bark. As with many herbs that were used in colonial times, excessive doses could prove deadly.

(Above photo of bag used by permission of the London Science Museum, Science & Society Picture Library) Click on "permission" to view site.