REPUBLIC OF ECUADOR, MILITARY HOSPITAL, SIR: In the month of May, of last year, I received a few pounds of "cundurango through the authorities, to experiment with. For fourteen months I have been assaying the properties of this new vegetable, not only in the establishment under my charge, but also in private practice, and I am happy to communicate to your excellency that this plant will do in a very short time better service than the quinine that is extracted from the woods of the favored province of Loja. I commenced my experiments with various internal complaints, obtaining admirable results in several cases of rheumatism, neuralgia, and otalgia, as also in a case of eczema, after having employed all the other means advised without any good results. In the cancer, before and after the ulceration, the "cundurango" is the most powerful agent, and can be qualified as the specific for this horrible scourge. On one of the most notable persons of the country, whom I treated during the fearful duration of a cancer of the tongue that had destroyed more than half of this organ, prescribing this plant under different forms and combinations, I have obtained a splendid triumph," the complete disappearance of the cancer," together with the conjunction of diathesis and swellings that made a deformity of all the base of the jawbone and neck, but had the misfortune to lose the patient in consequence of a sudden relapse of disease that had troubled him for several years; an access of asthma which gave rise to asphyxia that carried him off in an hour during the convalescency of a fever that he had contracted some time after having made "a radical cure of the cancer." At present I have under my charge a lady very well known, who had a cancer upon the left breast which has been reproduced in two points of the enormous scar, and having been recommended by various persons to undergo a new operation, preferred my care, and I obtained what will be in fifteen days a complete cure. Two cases more I have to refer to, in which if I have not obtained entire success, it has been on account of special circumstances of the patients, but in them I have proved the sure and efficacious action of the "cundurango." Later I will give a more detailed report of the action of the "cundurango" and of its results, with documentary proof that will convince all, even to the most incredulous. I regret, however, that my field of observation is so reduced. It is just that the sons of the country profit by these providential discoveries, and that in honor of the nation to take part, without expecting everything from abroad. Now the exportation commences with furore, hotly disputing the speculations, causing fraud to intervene, as they export portions of the vine, sell it at high prices without its being the true cundurango. I hope that soon the genius of our chief magistrate will take the necessary measures to avoid these consecutive evils to the advantage of the country, and so that this splendid discovery will not suffer the attacks to which the scandalous falsifications of several speculators will give rise. To the GENERAL commanding the district. H. CHIRIBOGA. REPUBLIC OF ECUADOR, WAR OFFICE, By order of his excellency the president of the republic, the original of the dispatch of the inspector of the military hospitals of that place was remitted to the war office, for the consequent ends to which it may give rise relative to the effect produced by the vegetable "cundurango," accompanying your esteemed communication No. 12. To the COMMANDING GENERAL of the district of Guayaquil. S. DARGUEA. No. 82. E. R. Wing to Mr. Fish. No. 143.] UNITED STATES LEGATION, Quito, Ecuador, September 14, 1871. (Received October 14.) SIR: In addition to the inclosure in my dispatch 137, I herewith forward two articles taken from a Guayaquil paper concerning the cundu rango. No. 1 is a letter by a pharmacist of Guayaquil, of whose personal skill and aptitude I know nothing, but I inclose it nevertheless. No. 2 is a communication from the surgeon-in-chief of the government hospital, who is reputed to be a gentleman of decided ability in his profession. I particularly commend this last inclosure to perusal, as it contains matter relative to the exportation and sale of the cundurango, which had occurred to me as possible heretofore, (see my dispatch No. 137,) and which should render purchasers, if these statements are not erroneous, exceedingly careful in securing the article. Having called attention to it because I believed it to be my duty to do so, I have no interest in the matter beyond that of seeing it patiently and fully tested. But that I do most earnestly wish to see, and such a test cannot, of course, be made, unless the real cundurango is obtained. I learn that it exists in large quantities throughout Southern Ecuador, and there is no reason why purchasers need permit themselves to be deceived by a spurious article, if any such should at any time unfortunately reach the American markets. I do not forward a translation of Dr. Chiriboga's communication, as, owing to the medical terms used, and the variety of tests suggested therein, I would prefer that the translator of the Department should make it for the sake of absolute certainty and accuracy. Allow me to suggest that it be made public at once. I have, &c., RUMSEY WING. No. 83. CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE AND THE LEGATION OF ECUADOR IN WASHINGTON. Mr. Flores to Mr. Fish. [Translation.] WASHINGTON, March 14, 1871. MR. MINISTER: I have received from my government, in order to offer it to you, a vegetable called "cundurango," which is produced in the province of Loja, Ecuador, and to which great medicinal qualities are attributed, as you will see by the annexed extracts, copied from No. 425 of the official journal of Ecuador. In case your excellency may think proper to accept this little offering, I take the liberty of inclosing the bill of lading of the box which contains it, to the end that you may be pleased, if you see fit, to return it to me with the necessary order for the custom-house at New York, and to take such other measures as you may think proper. I have been specially directed by my government to communicate the result of the analysis and experiments which may be made. I will therefore thank your excellency to deign to afford me, as far as possible, the means of obeying this order. In the hope that your excellency will be pleased to give to this matter the attention which is demanded, not only by humanity and science, but by the mercantile interests of Ecuador and the United States of America, I have the honor to reiterate to your excellency the assurance of my very high and distinguished consideration, and to subscribe myself your excellency's very obedient servant, A. FLORES. [Translation.] Extracts from the reports of Doctor Casares, Eguiguren, &c., &c. QUITO, April 28, 1870. I am happy to reply to your excellency's esteemed communication of the 21st instant, in which you inform me that the supreme government has resolved to send fifty pounds of the "eundurango," in order that this vegetable may be analyzed by scientific societies of Paris and London, and I am ordered to make a circumstantial report of the therapeutic effects which I have obtained by its application in some diseases. * About the month of September last, I commenced to administer this remedy to Bernabé M——————, who was suffering from a cancer, and the favorable result of this treatment, which was obtained in a few days, I thought proper to bring to the notice of the supreme government; but as the small quantity which I had obtained gave out, I was unable to continue the use of it. The domestic, Santos A of Mrs. Mercedes Larrea, has suffered a long time from a cancerous ulcer on the thigh of her right leg; she has always been attended by respectable physicians without any favorable result; she is now well, only two or three lines being wanted where it has healed up. Juan Bautista G- was suffering from a cancer in the lower lip; I removed it apparently entirely; four months afterward, however, the cancer reappeared, and, instead of resorting to a new operation, I applied the "cundurango," which caused it to disappear completely. Mr. D, now priest of the parish of N-, has long been a sufferer from a cancer above and below his left eye; he has been for a short time under the influence of this medicament, and the edges of ulcer have become depressed, the suppuration has changed its aspect, and the cancerous humor does not exist. The above are the cases of cancer which I have observed and subjected to the action of eundurango, and I have the satisfaction of being able to state that all the aforesaid patients are known in the country, and may be examined by any person desiring to do so. * * Passing to another case, I will state that it is a year since José A entered this hospital, suffering from intermittent fever and scrofulous ulcers in the breast. Constant and diligent care did nothing toward restoring his health, until I resolved to adininister the cundurango to him together with arsenic, and his present condition is very encouraging. I will remark that the cancers which I treated with the cundurango were already in the form of fungus hæmatodes. and none in the state of rawness. * * * The plan adopted in its use is as follows: First regulate the digestion and the biliary secretions in the best manner possible; surround the patient with pure air; take great care to secure cleanliness; give food which is easily digested; give him a cup of the decoction of cundurango in the morning, and another at night, until you observe that its action has caused debility; in which case I have replaced it sometimes by diuretics, together with tonics, and sometimes by diaphoretics and mild infusions of quinine. In cases of cancer I have made local applications of poultices, formed with the prepared shell of an egg and with water, alternating with some ointments promotive of suppuration, as was required by the state of the ulcer, after chloride lotions, slightly astringent. In syphilis, the internal method is entirely similar to the one above-mentioned; and locally I have only used sometimes aromatic wine, and at other times simple cerate, according to the state of irritation of the part. In case the result of the analysis of the cundurango be favorable, I think it proper for me to mention the fact that I have been assured that the kernel contained in the fruit of this vegetable kills dogs, just as strychnine does. Reminding the patient of this terrible circumstance, (the difficulty of saving his life,) I obliged him to take the remedy, which I alone possessed in Quito. After a few days, it produced so surprising an effect that Dr. Casares was astonished at the rapidity with which the cure took place, until the edges became cicatrized, and also the bone, as if it had been a wound in soft parts and in a healthy subject. I cansed Dr. Casares to be informed of the remedy which had cured him, and this professor appreciated a medicament of such high importance; and afterward learning that a servant of my brother, Manuel Eguiguren, had cured himself some months before of an ulcerated cancer which resisted the known appliances of art, he began to give it to a patient who was, by chance, in the hospital, and who would have died two or three days afterward if this remedy had not been so seasonably given him, as I was assured by Dr. Casares when he took me to see him. I think it a matter of the utmost importance to point out the manner of administering this remedy, in order to facilitate observations in the places to which it is sent. The stem, (or trunk,) cut into small pieces, is boiled in water until the latter becomes of the color of Sherry wine or strong tea: of this decoction from four to five onnces are given, properly sweetened, once or twice a day, according to the urgency of the case; but it is to be remarked that it cannot be given many days in succession, as it gives rise, in some persons, to nervous phenomena of considerable importance, which disappear on the simple suspension of the remedy. It has been used in this manner hitherto, as it is still an empirical remedy, and because it is thus used in Loja, where it was discovered.-El Nacional, (official journal of Ecuador,) No. 425. His Excellency the MINISTER OF THE INTERIOR, &c. No. 321.] FRANCE. No. 84. Mr. Washburne to Mr. Fish. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, Paris, November 18, 1870. (Received December 12.) SIR: I was in hopes before this time to have made to you a full and complete report of my action as connected with the protection of the subjects of the North German Confederation, Saxony, Hesse Grand Ducal, and Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, in France, with which I had been charged, during the existing war between those powers and France. But as my duties still continue, I cannot now make a final report, which would have to embrace my account with the Prussian government. In the account for the contingent expenses of this legation, for the quarter ending on the 30th of September last, I have not included any of the items of expenditure pertaining to that business, for the reason that such expenses run into the present quarter, and that it would be better to have them all put into one account. I hope, at the end of the present quarter, to be able to include everything. I will state; however, for your general information, that such expenses so far scarcely reach a thousand dollars. These expenses already paid, and to be paid, independent of certain amounts, to which I will hereafter allude, will not reach more than fifteen hundred dollars. All the items will be given in detail, and I hope the amount will not be regarded as extravagant, when the extent of the service is considered. I was glad to know that the Department coincided with Mr. Bancroft and myself in the opinion that all these expenses should be paid by the United States. It would certainly have been unworthy of a great Government like ours to permit itself to be paid for hospitalities extended to the subjects of other nations, for whom our protection had been sought. When, in accordance with your directions in July last, I took upon myself the protection of the German subjects in France, I had but a faint idea of what the undertaking was going to involve, for I had hardly supposed it possible that I would be charged with the care and with the superintendence of the departure of more than thirty thousand people, expelled from their homes upon so short a notice. From the time of the breaking out of the war, and as soon as it became known that the Germans had been placed under my protection, you can well imagine, considering so large a population, what would take place in that exciting period. The legation began to be crowded from day to day by persons desiring protection, advice, information, and assistance. Many were thrown into prison, charged with being "Prussian spies," many were under arrest as dangerous persons, and the lives and property of others were threatened in their neighborhood. My good offices were sought for and cheerfully rendered in all such cases, and I believe I never failed in accomplishing all I undertook in such emergencies. The first extraordinary order of the French government, prohibiting all such Germans from leaving France who might by possibility owe military service, and about which I had so long a correspondence with the Duke of de Grammont, created great alarm among a large number of them who were extremely anxious to get away. The practical operation of that order prevented any German from leaving French territory without special authority to that end, first had and obtained from the minister of the interior, and all applications for such authority had to be made through me; and after all this was changed, and the expul sion of the Germans decreed, it was required that I should visé the passports, or give a laisser-passer to every German leaving France, I have spoken of thirty thousand as the number of Germans placed under my protection, and who were expelled from France. I make this estimate from the number of visas and passports which I gave out, and that number, as recorded in the legation, amounts to eight thousand nine hundred. In the rush and hurry of business there was no record made in many cases, and it is entirely safe to say that the whole number of visas and passports going through the legation amounted to not less than nine thousand; the larger number of these passports included the husband, wife, and children. It is a moderate estimate to say that there was an average of three and one-third persons to each passport. That would make the thirty thousand souls. We issued our own cards, which by an arrangement with the railroad company entitled the holder to a railroad ticket from Paris, through Belgium, to the German frontier, for nine thousand three hundred and thirty-two persons, and gave pecuniary assistance to a smaller number. This involved an examination of each person as to his or her want of the necessary means to get out of the country, for our instructions were not to make advances to people who had the means to pay their own expenses. It also involved the necessity of sending two or three persons from the legation to the railroad depot every night, in order to see that the holders of the cards received their railroad tickets, and were properly sent off. It was about the middle of August when the expulsion of the Germans from Paris began to be enforced, and when I received the credit of fifty thousand thalers from the Prussian government to assist them. From that time till the middle of September, when the northern railroad was cut, we were literally overwhelmed with these poor people, seeking the visas of their passports and the means of getting away. For days, and I may even say for weeks, the street was completely blocked up by them awaiting their turns to be attended to. On one day |