Tecnociencia y colonialismo en la historia de las Cinchona / Technoscienci and colonialism in the history of the Cinchona

En este artículo se reflexiona sobre la ciencia y tecnología (o tecnociencia) asociadas con el colonialismo. Se usa la metáfora de "capas de colonialismo" para aludir a ideas y prácticas asociadas con la tecnociencia que son continuamente innovadas, que pueden mantenerse o reaparecer en diferentes momentos, y que estructuran el hecho colonial. Se usa como caso la apropiación de plantas de quina (Cinchona spp.) en diferentes momentos entre los siglos XVI y XX. Algunas de las capas presentadas son: apropiación material del producto natural, deslocalización y relocalización del lugar de autoridad alrededor del mismo, soterramiento de los saberes y sabedores locales, inserción de ideas sobre lo que se debe hacer con esa naturaleza, quién y cómo debe apropiarla, no-transferencias de tecnología, fomento de proyectos sin mayores oportunidades, entre otras. En la historia de larga duración del colonialismo alrededor de la apropiación de las quinas, se enfatiza en capas que emergen o reemergen en momentos clave

This article reflects on the science and technology (or technoscience) associated with colonialism. The metaphor of "layers of colonialism" is used to refer to ideas and practices associated with technoscience that are continuously innovated, that can be maintained or reappear at different times, and that structure the colonial fact. The appropriation of quina plants (Cinchona spp.) is used as a case at different times between the 16th and 20th centuries. Some of the layers presented are: material appropriation of the natural product, dislocation and relocation of the place of authority around it, burial of local knowledge and it's owners, insertion of ideas about what to do with that nature, who and how to appropriate it, non-transfers of technology, promotion of projects without greater opportunities, among others. In the long history of colonialism around the appropriation of the quinas, emphasis is placed on layers that emerge or reemerge at key moments

The Hidden History of a Famous Drug: Tracing the Medical and Public Acculturation of Peruvian Bark in Early Modern Western Europe (c. 1650-1720).

The history of the introduction of exotic therapeutic drugs in early modern Europe is usually rife with legend and obscurity and Peruvian bark is a case in point. The famous antimalarial drug entered the European medical market around 1640, yet it took decades before the bark was firmly established in pharmaceutical practice. This article argues that the history of Peruvian bark can only be understood as the interplay of its trajectories in science, commerce, and society. Modern research has mostly focused on the first of these, largely due to the abundance of medico-historical data. While appreciating these findings, this article proposes to integrate the medical trajectory in a richer narrative, by drawing particular attention to the acculturation of the bark in commerce and society. Although the evidence we have for these two trajectories is still sketchy and disproportionate, it can nevertheless help us to make sense of sources that have not yet been an obvious focus of research. Starting from an apparently isolated occurrence of the drug in a letter, this article focuses on Paris as the location where medical and public appreciation of the bark took shape, by exploring several contexts of knowledge circulation and medical practice there. These contexts provide a new window on the early circulation of knowledge of the bark, at a time when its eventual acceptance was by no means certain.

Bitter-sweet solutions for malaria: exploring natural remedies from the past.

This paper explores "a wonderful cure" for malaria used successfully by Robert Talbor, an apothecary's apprentice in the English marshes, to treat Essex smugglers and European Royalty in the seventeenth century. The basis of this cure is identified as "quinquina" from the bark of the South American Cinchona tree. The story of Robert Talbor and his secret remedy for malaria opens up a set of intriguing questions about the early history of "quinquina", the subsequent development of quinine, the use of higher plants for antimalarial drugs, including the Chinese plant Artemisia annua L., and the value of unlocking the secrets of the past in our search for strategies to control malaria.

[Discovery of the cardiac effectiveness of cinchona bark and its alkaloids]. / Zur Entdeckung der Herzwirksamkeit der Chinarinde und ihrer Alkaloide.

The cardiac side effects of chinchona bark were discovered very soon after its introduction to the materia medica of academic medicine towards the end of the 17th century (Georg Ernst Stahl, 1660-1734). Therapeutically these effects were utilized sporadically as early as in the first half of the 18th century (Gerhard van Swieten, 1700-1772; John Wall, 1708-1776; William Saunders, 1743-1817). Purified quinine became a standard component of cardiac therapy in the 2nd half of the 19th century (Ludwig Traube, 1818-1876; Johann Oppolzer, 1808-1871; Karel Frederik Wenckebach, 1864-1940). In 1918 quinidine was introduced by Walter Frey (1884-1972) as the common alkaloid of chinchona bark and is still used in rhythmology today.

[Charles Ledger and the Cinchona]. / Charles Ledger en de Cinchona.

Reading "The life of Charles Ledger", the book written by Gabriele Grammiccia, one notices immediately, what an extraordinary personality Ledger was. He was typically British and belonged to that generation for which, as he wrote himself, "the fact of being a British subject is in itself a reason of pride, including as such a definite obligation to serve the country." This blinding patriotism of even modest British people all over the world, gave the City, as well as the British Empire, a remarkable place in the world trade. The history of Ledger's life, derived from the most authorized sources, is a real adventure novel. At the age of eighteen, he goes to Lima (Peru), in order to find a job. It takes him but a few years to build up his own import-export business. In Tacna, in the very South of Peru, near the Chilean and Bolivian borders (the region where he lived), alpaca wool and quinquina bark are some of the most traded goods. These two products will determine his further life. The principles of his commercial policy were as follows: to buy first quality products, and pack the goods in such a way that they reach the British or European customers in perfect condition, thereby always giving a preferential treatment to the Commonwealth. The quinquina bark trade is hampered by the fact that there is a very great quantity of varieties, each having a different concentration of alkaloids in its bark. To buy the best species, Cinchona calisaya, one needs a perfect knowledge of these trees. The expertise is only to be obtained by visiting the regions where the quinquina tree grows and finding one's way with the help of willing "cascarilleros", the Indians collecting the quinquina bark. During one of his exploration trips, Ledger was fortunate enough to enjoy the service of a Bolivian called Manuel, who faithfully assisted him and his family for years. Together they ranged, at great pains, across every possible region, even the most remote ones; they succeeded in identifying the richest collections of quinquina trees and signing buying contracts on the spot. The most beautiful trees are usually unsuitable for any form of exploitation. In order to understand the special atmosphere that made the solving of the quinquina problems so arduous in the course of time, it seems best to place them in a historical perspective.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Ledger's cinchona seeds: a composite of field experience, chance, and intuition.

Following a short historical review of the facts which lead to the discovery of the specific action of the cinchona bark, an analysis is made of the obstacles encountered for more than two centuries by scientific expeditions to the identification, among the maze of natural hybrids, of the varieties of cinchona producing large amounts of quinine, and to obtain the best seed to establish plantations in other continents. Charles Ledger, a British general tradesman, was able to achieve that thanks to his alert spirit of observation, his (and that of his Bolivian servant Manuel) long experience of the Andes, and the chance that brought them to fall upon a group of exceptional cinchonas which had grown on an impervious slope of the Andes. Eventually the seeds were collected and Ledger offered them to the British and Dutch governments. Whereas the British failed to recognise their importance, the Dutch did not. They created extensive plantations in Java from which the world's demand for quinine was met, and the Dutch detained the practical monopoly of its production.