Jesuits’ bark

Jesuiten-rinde, /. Jesuit bark (cinchona bark), -tee, m. Mexican tea (Chenopodium ambro aioidea). 

Quinine was originally extracted from the bark of the Cinchona tree (Peruvian bark or Jesuits bark) and was used to treat ague, that is fever, usually due to malaria. It fell out of fashion with the advent of other antimalarial drugs, but has once again become the drug of first choice for malaria originating in areas with multiresistant Plasmodium falciparum. To be effective, quinine plasma concentrations greater than the minimal inhibitory concentration must be achieved and maintained. 

Jahres-jBeridit 146, 180, 299 Jahres-beridbt299 jalap 242,254 Jesuits bark 242 Joule s law 689 f. juglonei490... 

The oldest effective drug for the treatment of this disease is indisputably quinine. Although the antipyretic activity of cinchona bark was known to the Incas, it remained for the Jesuit missionaries to uncover its antimalarial properties in the early seventeenth century. The advance of organic chemistry led to the isolation and identification of the alkaloid, quinine, as the active compound at the turn of this century. The emerging clinical importance of this drug led up to the establishment of cinchona plantations in the Dutch East Indies. This very circum-... 

Cinchona and its alkaloids, particularly quinine, have been used for many years in the treatment of malaria, a disease caused by protozoa, of which the most troublesome is Plasmodium falciparum. The beneficial effects of cinchona bark were first discovered in South America in the 1630s, and the bark was then brought to Europe by Jesuit missionaries. Religious intolerance initially restricted its universal acceptance, despite the widespread occurrence of malaria in Europe and elsewhere. The name cinchona is a mis-spelling derived from Chinchon. In an often quoted tale, now historically disproved, the Spanish Countess of Chinchon, wife of the viceroy of Peru, was reputedly cured of malaria by the bark. For... 

The medicinal use of quinine, an antimalarial agent, dates back over 350 years. Quinine is the chief alkaloid of cinchona, the bark of the South American cinchona tree, otherwise known as Peruvian bark, Jesuit s bark, or Cardinal s bark. In 1633, an Augustinian monk named Calan-cha of Lima, Peru, first wrote that a powder of cinchona given as a beverage, cures the fevers and tertians. By 1640, cinchona was used to treat fevers in Europe, a fact first mentioned in the European medical literature in 1643. The Jesuit fathers were the main importers and distributors of cinchona in Europe, hence the name Jesuit s bark. Cinchona also was called Cardinal s bark because it was sponsored in Rome by the eminent philosopher, Cardinal de Lugo. 

Even in the sixteenth century one alkaloid was famous—quinine was extracted from the bark of the South American cinchona tree and used to treat fevers, especially malaria. The Jesuits who did this work (the remedy was known as Jesuit s bark ) did not of course know what the structure of quinine was, but now we do. 

Used by Amazon tribes against cancer. Also called quinine, Peruvian bark, Jesuit s bark. Has been the remedy of choice for malaria, now making a comeback with the emergence of strains resistant to synthetic drugs. 

History. Quinine has been listed as one of the six most important plant products that have influenced human history [160]. Cinchona, or "Quinine Bark" is one of the most famous plants from South America and most important discoveries. Legend says that the name "cinchona" comes from the Countess of Chinchon, the wife of a viceroy of Peru, who was cured in 1638 of a malarial type of fever by using the bark of the Cinchona tree. The legend starts with a misspelled name, continues with an extract named mistakenly by Linnaeus in 1742 as "quinquina", and maintains the reputed traditional use of plant extract for a disease probably introduced to that continent by Europeans and their African slaves [see 161, 162, 6]. Quinine bark was used by the Jesuits very early in its history, first advertized for sale in England in 1658 and was made official in the London Pharmacopoeia in 1677. 

Several years after "Countess s powder" arrived in England, it arrived in Spain where the virtues of the bark were rapidly recognized, from this "tree of fever of the region of Loxa". Rapidly and due to the influence of the Company of Jesus, the "Jesuits powder" became known all over Europe. Physicians gave credit to the drug, and because of the specificity of its action on malaria, it was recognized officially even when the identity of the producing species remained unknown. 

Quinine, was the first known antimalarial. It is a 4-quinolinemethanol derivative bearing a substituted quinuclidine ring. The use of quinine in Europe began in the seventeenth century, after the Incas of Peru informed the Spanish Jesuits about the antimalarial properties of the bark of an... 

Cmchona alkaloids. Indole alkaloids (cinchonamine group) and quinoline alkaloids (cinchonine group), only the latter group is of therapeutic significance. C. a. are isolated from Cinchona bark (Jesuit s bark Cin-chonae cortex). The name is derived from the Indian word quina (bark). The drug consists of the dried tube... 

Ancient American people have also developed knowledge about medicines and poisons from native plants, being able to diagnose and treat physical and spiritual Ulnesses in their own way. Infusions of bark of cinchona tree (Cinchona officinalis) cultivated in South American Incas royal households were early used against fevers. This species was known in Europe when Jesuits carried plant samples in their way back. Aymaras used the word coca meaning tree, to name E. coca its leaves were chewed for centuries by different cultures from the Andean plateau as a stimulant to treat altitude-derived symptoms and against appetite, thirst, and fatigue [2]. 

The Puritan leader Oliver Cromwell became Infected with malaria in 1649/50, while traveling in Ireland. He refused to take the recently discovered remedy, a tree bark powder, called "Jesuits powder" (see below), and died in 1658 from a malaria-relapse in combination with a kidney disease. [419]... 

---