Correspondence between the Department of State and the legation of Ecuador in Washington.
[Translation.]

Mr. Flores to Mr. Fish

No. 83.

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 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 [Page 265] my very high and distinguished consideration, and to subscribe myself your excellency’s very obedient servant,

FLORES.
[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 [Page 266] 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.