McCook weekly tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 188?-1886, 1884-12-18
A PoTENTDRUG.
The Great Value Of Quinine-Its Universal
Medical Use.

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range of the materia medica has been
so great boon to the human race as
quinine; and in later years it has been
administered to many ailing domestic
animals with decided benefit. A vast
amount of suffering has been alleviated
by it; and many hundreds of thousands
of lives have been saved or prolonged,
during the settlement of our new coun-
try, where there has been constant ex-
posure to decaying accumulations of
centuries of vegetable growth.
"Ague," ''chills," 'fever-and-ague"
have been the things, of all others, to
be dreaded by those going into new
regions, especially those covered with
We well remember that when our
neighbors, in families and groups,
emigrated to the wilds of Michigan,
the first inquiry made concerning them
was whether they had yet had, or how
they got through with the inevitable
intermittent fever, or '.fevernague,
rs it was usually termed. During the
late war, probably more men were
placed hors du combat, and came
home with health shattered by malaria
than persisted from the rifle and can
non missiles. 1t is perhaps safe to say
that the amount or suffering from this
cause would have been doubled had
not quinine been leading article In
the army medical supplies.
The large increase in the average
length of human life during the last
forty years is due in no small measure
to the increased production of quinine,
and its almost universal use by ply
sicians. The writer of this can but
speak with gratitude, and feelingly, on
this subject, after suffering more or
less for dozen years from the effects
of malaria brought home from long
day and night service in the hospital
camps of Virginia during 1863-64.
Finding little relief from any other
treatment, excepting when residing
among the mountains of Switzerland,
he began the use of quinine in 1876, by
the ADVICE of the late Bishop Simpson,
The change was wonderful. With the
exception of temporary prostration
by heat in the summer of 1888, he has
not lost dozen days from ill-health
since taking the Bishops advice; and
to-day by the continuance of very
small quantities of quinine only, he is
more vigorous than even in ''the prime
of life" period, between 40 and so. He
goes through fourteen to sixteen hours
a day of vigorous work, and even en-
joys it. We attribute this almost Who'll
ly to quinine, and one reason why will
be seen further or.
A little history of quinine will be in
teresting. The natives of some parts
of South America, particularly in Peru
and Ecuador, had long known the
beneficial effects of the bark of the
Cinchona tree or shrub. Perhaps from
its having been found largely in Peru,
it received the appellation of "Peru-
Wan Bark" 1t has, in its different va
rieties, been called Cinchona bark,
Calisaya bark, and score of other less
common names. One report is, that the
Spanish Countess of Cinchon, whose
husband had been Viceroy of Peru,
brought the remedy into Spain on her
return in 1640. After its introduction it
was sold by the Jesuits for its weight
in silver. 1t only became generally
known in England and France just
about 200 years ago. But the powdered
bark, or a decoction of it, was mainly
employed up to the present century,
and in leading medical works of only
forty years ago, the bark was chiefly
specified. Since then, the work of ex-
tracing quinia, or quinine, from the
bark, has gone forward with rapid
strides, and during twenty-five years
past the use of quinine has very greatly
extended. There is now made and used
double if not three-fold the quantity of
twenty years ago. The English gov
eminent established the culture of the
cinchona tree in East India possessions,
and these plantations are now supply
ing an immense amount of the bark
from which quinine is extracted. The
present unprecedented low price is
largely due to this new source of sup
ply.
Quinine is an alkaline substance OBJ
tanned by chemical processes somewhat
bark, which yields 2 to 8 per cent of its
weight. This quinia, or quinine, is now
almost universally used in the form of
a sulphate-a union of the alkai with
sulphuric acid-and whenever quinine
is spoken OF without qualification, the
sulphate of quinine is meant. The read
er has doubtless noticed that in all pre-
scriptions the sulphate of quinine is
specified. Its effects are quite similar to
the powdered bark, or the simple quin-
inc. During the war when providing it
for the use of the United States
Sanitary Commission, or for private
use, it cost, if we remember rightly,
about 500 pound, or Sc to So per
ounce. To-day it is quoted in Europe
as low as 81 an ounce (4373 grains),
and can probably be bought in large
quantities as low as that in New York.
This very low rate, as stated above, is
due to the present over stock, resulting
in part from the production of the Gin
chona trees by the English govern
ment. 1t is said that even with the re-
cent great improvement in the pro-
cesses of manufacture or extraction