What disease really was, where
it was, how it was caused, had not even begun to be discussed
intelligently.
An empirical discovery of the first importance marks the middle of the
century. The story of cinchona is of special interest, as it was the
first great specific in disease to be discovered. In 1638, the wife
of the Viceroy of Peru, the Countess of Chinchon, lay sick of an
intermittent fever in the Palace of Lima. A friend of her husband's,
who had become acquainted with the virtues, in fever, of the bark of
a certain tree, sent a parcel of it to the Viceroy, and the remedy
administered by her physician, Don Juan del Vego, rapidly effected
a cure. In 1640, the Countess returned to Spain, bringing with her
a supply of quina bark, which thus became known in Europe as "the
Countess's Powder" (pulvis Comitissae). A little later, her doctor
followed, bringing additional quantities. Later in the century,
the Jesuit Fathers sent parcels of the bark to Rome, whence it was
distributed to the priests of the community and used for the cure of
ague; hence the name of "Jesuits' bark." Its value was early recognized
by Sydenham and by Locke. At first there was a great deal of opposition,
and the Protestants did not like it because of its introduction by the
Jesuits.
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