Cinchona in Portugal - The Consumption of Cinchona, drug research and industrial production (18th-20th Centuries)

Abstract

The authors briefly trace the significant stages of the issue related to cinchona in Portugal, namely with the research carried out at the University of Coimbra as a platform. They exemplified the consumption of cinchona by executing a case study on the production of medication in the Pharmacy of the University of Coimbra´s School Hospital (XVIII-XIX centuries). They divulge the main authors and main works that studied cinchona in Portugal (XVIII-XX centuries). They look back on the controversy between Coimbra and Lisbon, concerning the isolation of the cinchonine of Gomes (1810) Finally they cover the period of industrial investment in cinchona plantations in Portuguese colonies and the implantation of a quinine extraction industry and its relationship with the colonial issue