Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
mitigate shivering at high Andean altitudes (
Rocco, 2004
). Spaniard Jesu-
its encountering vivax malaria patients likely reasoned the bark could also
mitigate the shaking chills of that infection. That the bark proved curative
rather than merely palliative may be considered a most improbable good
fortune. Pelletier and Caventou in France extracted and identified quinine
as the active ingredient of Jesuit's bark against malaria in 1820. Their discov-
ery unleashed efforts that empowered economically successful cultivation
of cinchona trees. That success, where it occurred, and geopolitical events
would later give direct rise to modern antimalarials still in wide use.
Traders in cinchona bark began seeking out species and strains of trees
of the highest quinine yield. In 1864, a British adventurer, Philip Ledger,
smuggled 14 pounds of cinchona seeds out of Peru. The authorities cap-
tured and killed his Peruvian accomplice, Manuel Incra Mamani, who had
obtained the seeds from somewhere in Bolivia (
Taylor, 1945
). Humanity
owes a huge debt to Mamani because naturally occurring cinchona trees
were not sustainable as a source of quinine. Even in his day, the trees were
being exploited to an extent that risked extinction. Only commercial cul-
tivation of superior trees using sophisticated, optimized techniques could
meet global demand and prove economically sustainable (
Taylor, 1945
).
Mamani and Ledger made this possible.
Although no one yet understood the extraordinary nature of Ledger's
seeds, they would go on to produce trees having a bark containing up to
14% quinine sulfate content, compared to the more typical 2-4% among
almost all other strains. Ledger's seeds were destined to make quinine pro-
duction a profitable and sustainable enterprise. The British authorities
showed no interest in the seeds, already having cinchona plantations in India
using trees obtained by Markham - not yet appreciating that the economic
difficulties on those plantations were the product of relatively inferior trees.
Ledger sold a pound of the seeds to the Dutch authorities for 100 francs
up front, followed by 24 British pound sterling after they proved viable by
germinating. The remaining 13 pounds Ledger managed to sell to a British
cinchona planter on home leave from India, but the planter lost confidence
in the seeds and traded Ledger's for the standard strain being used in India.
Ledger's seeds in India became lost.
The one remaining pound of Ledger's seeds arrived in Java in late 1865,
and the Dutch used these to consolidate by 1918 a global cartel in the
trade of quinine, controlling 95% of global production. According to
Taylor
(1945)
, in 1939, the Netherlands East Indies had 17,000 ha under cinchona
cultivation in 110 estates that produced 12.6 million kilograms of cinchona
