Cinchona/quinine occupied a very important role in medical therapeutics and pharmacopoeia in Portugal and several other European countries. Therefore, it became the object of thorough botanical and chemical studies, as well as of trading and industrial interest. The present study approaches the representation of cinchona and quinine in the Portuguese specialised literature, namely the works on materia media, pharmacy, pharmacopoeia, pharmacology and therapeutics. Consistently, it begins with a brief outline of the historical uses of cinchona in Portugal.

Next, we approach the controversy among scholars from Coimbra and Lisbon, between 1810 and 1812, following the isolation of cinchonine by Bernardino António Gomes. To remind, the product isolated by Gomes (“cinchonine”) turned to represent the first alkaloid extracted from cinchona, and as a fact, the original discovery of quinine.

Cinchona was introduced in the Portuguese pharmacopoeia quite early. Although neither the first Portuguese pharmacopeia ever published, i.e., Pharmacopea Lusitana (1704), by Caetano de Santo António (d. [ca. 1730]), nor the first official pharmacopeia, i.e., Pharmacopea Geral (1794), by Francisco Tavares (1750-1812) included monographs on cinchona, they both described medicines which included it as component. In turn, analysis of contemporary medical prescriptions shows that the therapeutic use made of cinchona agreed with the stipulations of the Portuguese pharmacopoeia, as well as the influence of the Edinburgh Pharmacopoeia. Starting in the 19th century, the official Portuguese pharmacopeia included several medications including quinine, as e.g., Codigo Pharmaceutico Lusitano (1835), Pharmacopoêa Portugueza (1876), and Farmacopeia Portuguesa (1935).

The present study is completed by a discussion of 19th and 20th centuries studies on cinchona, as e.g., the ones by Tavares, Júlio Augusto Henriques (1838-1928), Joaquim dos Santos e Silva (1842-1906), José Cardoso do Vale (1911-2010) and Aloísio Fernandes Costa (1906-1980).

This presentation is based on work co-authored by João Rui Pita and Ana Leonor Pereira.