Cinchona economically practical source of quinine, a drug that is still recommended for the treatment of "falciparum" malaria. The Italian botanist Pietro Castelli wrote a pamphlet noteworthy as being the first Italian publication to mention the cinchona. By the 1630s (or 1640s, depending on the reference), the bark was being exported to Europe. In the late 1640s, the method of use of the bark was noted in the "Schedula Romana." English King Charles II called upon Robert Talbor, who had become famous for his miraculous malaria cure. Because at that time the bark was in religious controversy, Talbor gave the king
Jesuit's bark "Pulvis Patrum". The history of cinchona bark, which dates back more than 300 years, has greatly influenced that of pharmacy, botany, medicine, trade, theoretical and practical chemistry, and tropical agriculture. Circa 1650, the physician Sebastiano Bado declared that this bark had proved more precious to mankind than all the gold and silver that the Spaniards had obtained from South America, and the world confirmed his opinion. See also Swords, Ships and Sugar - The History of Nevis, by Vincent K. Hubbard, p. 73, where a large amount of "Peruvian Bark" had been captured by the pirate Basil Ringrose, also known