The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1890-05-02
ALL ABOUT oUININs.
The Processes Through Which 1t Pass
Before You Take Your Dose,

The Processes Through Which 1t Passs,
Before You Take Your Dose.
The introduction of cinchona into
European Pharmacop9ia is of COM
paratively recent date. The story runs
that the Countess of Cinchon. vice-Queen
of Peru, was low down with lingering
feeer, and that native physicians pre-
Scr1bed certain bark that grew in the
nelghborhOod for the fair patient. The
Countess recovered, and never ceased to
praise the wonderful bark to which she
gave fame and a name This was about
l637-S. But properties of cinchona as
tonic and febrifuge were not gener-
ally known in Europe until the latter
part of the seventeenth century.
For considerably more than a hundred
years, the people of Europe were wholly
at the mercy of one or two South Amer
lean States for their supply of cinchona.
say ''at the mercy" because the guam
tity and price of quinine was practically
regulated by the action of these erratic
States. Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador were
wrangling or fighting with one another
most of the time for long series of
years. When the natives were fighting,
no bark could be shipped out of the
country. The price of quinine would
then Jump up at the rate of one and two
dollars a pound within fortnight Be-
sides these petty States monopolized the
bark trade in a severe fashion. They
compelled the poor bark-gatherer to sall
his stuff for whatever price they chose
to give him. At present the South Amer
can States levy duty on all bark ex-
ported.
The Dutch were the first to break the
South American monopoly of the Gin
chona trade. They found that the tree
would grow in the East India Islands.
Then the English government sent out
several expeditions to investigate the
whole subject and to see whether or not
trees could be transplanted. After
number of trials they found also that
the tree would flourish in northern India
All these different experiments showed
that it was easy to grow the cinchona
tree, but it also proved that it was not
easy to grow the right kind Of bark. 1t
is surprising how banks of the same
species vary in their medicinal proper
ties. The barks look so much alike that
often chemical analysis is req uired to
tell their medicinal values. Some banks
yield as high as thirteen per cent. of
alkalOids, while others show hardly
trace of them. Generally speaking, the
value of cinchona depends upon the
amount of alkaloid yielded. Qninino is
k1,o oh,
constituent The alkaloid known as
quinidine is the rarest. The preparation
used in medicine is the alkaloid quinine
in the form of a sulphate.
The species known as C. Calls tyo con-
tains more quinine than any other. It
grows in the thick. rank, tropical forests
of Bolivia and South Peru, where it is
gathered with much labor and difficulty
by the natives. There are two varieties
of calisaya-one is a small, shrub-Iike
growth; the other is large, tall tree
The last variety is said to be the best.
The season for gathering the bark be-
gins in August and lasts till October or
November. according TO the weather
After the bark is stripped from the tree.
it has to be thoroughly dried. Then it
is packed in cerCons of moistened COW
hide or in bales of heavy sacking. Most
of these bales are stamped or branded
with the dealers name or trade mark
1t is said that certain brands have &C
quired considerable reputation in the
trade, and any bark in the bales so
marked can be relied on. 1t is also said
that there is good deal of sharp prac-
tice in the ,cinchona bark trade, as in
ferior or worthless banks are sometimes
skillfully mixed with good banks and
sometimes branded with good trade
mark. Hence, l am told that all the
imports of bark. brand or no brand.
name or no name, are analysed before
they are accepted.
The quinine trade abroad and in the
United States is practically in the hands
of a monopoly or combination. The
great factory for preparing cinchona
bark for medicinal purposes is located
in Mannheim, Germany.-L. j Vance,
in Once Week.