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 he 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
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my very high and distinguished consideration,
and to subscribe myself your excellency’s very obedient servant,
[Translation.]
Extracts from the reports of Doctor Casares,
Eguiguren,
&c., &c.
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 “condurango,” in order that this
vegetable may he 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 “condurango,” 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 cundurango, 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 wall 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 administer 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 hœmatodes 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. Incases 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
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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 caused 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 ounces 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 National, (official journal of Ecuador,) No. 425.
His Excellency the Minister of the Interior, &c.
