Shape of the Earth - Full Meridian of Glory - page 72

d'étudier et de traiter l'histoire naturelle, Théorie de la terre and Histoire des animaux
( Discourse on the Way to Study Natural History, Theory of the Earth and History
of Animals ) all three of which were published in 1749.
Among his contributions to natural history based on his South American expedi-
tion, La Condamine had already rediscovered rubber in the jungle near Quito and
used it to make a waterproof case for his quadrant. His discovery with the greatest
impact was quinine. It had long been known in Europe from native Inca usage that
the bark of certain trees was effective against fever. It was sold under the name of
the “countess's powder,” after its use in 1638 to cure the Countess of El Cinchon,
Francisca Henriquez de Riviera, and wife of the viceroy of Peru. It was also known
as “Jesuits' bark” because she charged the Jesuits with its distribution in Peru as a
medicine and as “Cardinal's powder” since it was shipped in large quantities
to Europe by the Jesuit Cardinal Juan de Lugo, but there were several trees of the
same or similar names and some of the powders were useless. According to
La Condamine, the Incas had discovered the medicinal properties of the tree after
an earthquake tumbled numerous quinaquina trees into a lake, whose waters
became healthy to drink, and he identified the tree called by that name (its scientific
name being Cinchona officinalis) . Its bark had three colors and the red bark was
both the most bitter and more effective against malaria.
Bouguer arrived in Paris in June 1744 but Godin and Ulloa remained behind in
South America. Godin had married a Peruvian girl, Isabel Grameson, but after La
Condamine and Bouguer had left, Godin decided to return to France. He traveled
along the Amazon in 1745 to French Guyana to make preparations for the voyage
to Europe and there became separated from his wife for twenty years when the
borders were closed by political difficulties. Eventually Isabel made a heroic journey
down the Amazon to rejoin her husband in 1770 and the two of them set foot in
France only in 1773. Isabel's story was a sensation. Her journey would have been
amazing if she had been a man and was an almost incredible adventure by a woman
of the time. (Whitaker 2004)
Meanwhile in Paris a disagreement had arisen between Bouguer and La Condamine
whose relations had been progressively deteriorating throughout the expedition.
Apparently this sprang from an account by Bouguer of La Condamine's intention
to measure a degree of longitude rather than of latitude until he had been told more
explicitly what to do in orders from France. Bourguer implied that La Conda-
mine didn't understand the purpose of the expedition at all, and that in fact, La
Condamine had thought that by measuring a degree of longitude he could determine
the shape of the Earth because, if the Earth was flattened, its circumference through
the poles would be larger than its circumference around the equator, and the reverse.
In the end it was decided that the difference was too slight to be measured critically
enough and the measurement of a degree of longitude was canceled.
The argument between Bouguer and La Condamine became a bickering quarrel
over trivial matters such as who had suggested what improvement to techniques and
equipment at what time: “Bouguer could not disguise his feelings of superiority as
a mathematician over La Condamine,” wrote Jacques Delille in La Condamine's
obituary, “He felt he should be the primary object of public affection.” La Condamine