Gramiccia G
Parassitologia. 1987 May-Dec;29(2-3):207-20.
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.
在对导致金鸡纳树皮特定作用被发现的事实进行简短的历史回顾之后，分析了两个多世纪以来科学考察所遇到的障碍，即在自然杂交种的迷宫中识别出能大量生产奎宁的金鸡纳品种，并获取最佳种子以便在其他大陆建立种植园。英国商人查尔斯·莱杰凭借其敏锐的观察力、他（以及他的玻利维亚仆人曼努埃尔）在安第斯山脉的长期经验，以及使他们偶然发现生长在安第斯山脉一处无法通行的斜坡上的一群特殊金鸡纳树的机遇，得以实现这一目标。最终收集到了种子，莱杰将它们提供给了英国和荷兰政府。英国未能认识到它们的重要性，而荷兰却做到了。他们在爪哇创建了大片种植园，满足了全球对奎宁的需求，并且荷兰实际上垄断了奎宁的生产。
