Medicine Tree
“In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.” [Revelation 22:2]
Deadly malaria fevers have been killing people since the beginning of written history, but it wasn’t until the middle of the 17th century that an effective treatment was discovered. Jesuit missionaries in Peru noticed the success of the Quechua Indians in treating malaria with a tea made from the bark of a local tree. While no one knows for sure how the Indians learned this remedy, there is a plausible legend which supplies an account.
The tale starts with an Indian lost in the Peruvian jungle and burning with fever from malaria. He stumbled upon a pool of water and threw himself down at the edge to satisfy his thirst. One gulp of the bitter water told him that it had been tainted by the bark of the quina-quina tree, which the locals assumed was poisonous. Much to the man’s surprise, he did not die but felt his strength returning. He eventually found his way back to his own village, where he made a full recovery. He told everybody about the pool and the taste of the quina-quina bark, and the quinine tonic water treatment was born. In 1742, the tree was renamed cinchona by a Swedish botanist in honor of the Countess of Chinchon, who may have been the first European to use an extract of the bark to treat her malaria. Quinine was still the preferred treatment for malaria until the 1940s, and it is still used in certain regions of the world because of its low cost. Quinine has also been used to treat arthritis and lupus.
The Bible speaks of another tree that has healing properties: the tree of life. This tree, which has two trunks, one on either side of the river of life, bears 12 different kinds of fruit. Poetically, Revelation tells us that its leaves are for healing the nations. In other words, all that divides us here on Earth will be healed as people from all nations of the world gather under its branches.
