dChan - Q Origins Project Archive

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Pope Francis = First Jesuit Pope

Fauci = Jesuit - Regis HS and College of Holy Cross

A. Cuomo = Jesuit - Fordham University

Jesuit's Bark

The heart of Ms. Rocco's research lies in the records of ancient botanical explorations by Jesuits like the monk Agustino Salumbrino, who left Rome for Peru in 1604. There he studied native plants for their healing powers – especially the cinnamon-red bark of the cinchona tree, which the Incas used to treat shivering. Back in the Holy City, Salumbrino began to import the bark to relieve Rome's malarious summers, and by 1630 quinine entered the literature as a treatment.

But not so fast. If current drugs must endure a long round of clinical trials and patent wars, quinine was made to suffer other challenges: struggles between colonial powers and conquered countries, religious strife (quinine was denounced by Protestants as "popish" quackery), disputes between scientific innovators and a conservative medical elite – all vying to control territory, trade, science and souls.

And then there were the hazards of collection and transport. The Jesuits, according to Ms. Rocco, urged replacing each harvested tree with five more, planted in the shape of a cross. Still, the groves were despoiled. To carry cinchona samples out of the Andes on mules or oxen required a harrowing journey, accompanied by coca-chewing guides. Trees and bark – carried on ships in glass or calico containers – were often smashed or spoiled en route. (After a while, seeds and saplings were taken to Britain, India and Java for transplanting.)

https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB106186574272514000