Quinine the Quechua, who are indigenous to Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador, to halt shivering due to low temperatures. The Quechuas would mix the ground bark of cinchona trees with sweetened water to offset the bark's bitter taste, thus producing tonic water. The Jesuits were the first to bring cinchona to Europe. The Spanish were aware of the medicinal properties of cinchona bark by the 1570s or earlier: Nicolás Monardes (1571) and Juan Fragoso (1572) both described a tree that was subsequently identified as the cinchona tree and whose bark was used to produce a drink to treat diarrhea. Quinine has been
Cinchona a strong decoction of the cinchona bark served with wine. Wine was used because some alkaloids of the cinchona bark are not soluble in water, but are soluble in the ethanol in wine. In 1681 "Água de Inglaterra" was introduced into Portugal from England by Dr. Fernando Mendes who, similarly, “received a handsome gift from (King Pedro) on condition that he should reveal to him the secret of its composition and withhold it from the public”. In 1738, "Sur l'arbre du quinquina", a paper written by Charles Marie de La Condamine, lead member of the expedition, along with Pierre Godin