Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1894-06-08
THE HlsToRY oF oUINlNE.
How 1t Was First Discovered Named
 After 3 seaalsh Prlaeess.


 After spanish Princess.
 His grace the Duke of Fife. who is a chemist as well as a politician and a banker to boot. has recently commu- nicated to the world all that he knows, and practically all that ls known, con- eerning that life-saving alkaloid, qui- nine. As was befitting such an inter- esting subject and such an interesting lecturer. the duke was accorded the Royal Institution. Londons scienti6c holy of holies, in which to expound his theories and disseminate the fruits of his research. The Marquis of Lorne runs Fife. very close in the digging up of popular subjects and il is a race be- tween them as to who is the better hand in working up paper which is both interesting and ceuched In lam guage understood by the masses. Fife, however, has held his own so far and the British public has quite come to regard him as a good all-round man, who, although 3 royal princess hus- band, walks about with his eyes open and allows few matters of interest to escape him.
 On the subject of quinine the duke says that if it Is not exactly house hold medicine, during the past few years it has certainly become house. hold word. And perhaps no other drug has history more varied and interest ing. Peruvian bark first appeared in the London pharmae eopaeia in 16T7 It was, however, used in England at least as early as the year 1655, and was advertised for sale in 1858 as The sx- celIent powder called by the name of Jesuits powder, brought over by one James Thomson, merchant of Ant werp.
 But what is now universally known as quinine-one of the most important of the aiksloids-was not discovered till ls1l; nor was it obtained in a pure state by complete separation from the other constituents of the bark until ten years afterward. Quite unseien- tIheally, quinine may be described as the base, or essential principle, of the bark of certain individuals among the einchona family of trees. This bark was arst introduced into Europe in 1882, though it is generally said to have been unknown there before the return to Madrid of the Countess Of Cinchen. the wife of the Viceroy of Peru, in i64o. This lady, from whom the bark producing trees derive their botanical l name, had been cured by it of a fever | contracted in Lima in 1888, and her physician, by whom she was accom- | panied to Europe, not unnatufalIy [ made much of the wonder-working ] medicine. But the Jesuits who had settled in Peru were quite aware of its virtues at "a earlier date. They were. at all vents, the chief agents of it's distribu- ion in Europe, the powder obtained rom the bark being then generally l Inown as .Jesuits' powder" In Mad i'd f was called Countess powder, and . Rome Pulvis Patrum. From the lat CT city it speedily found it's way 10 srassels and Antwerp. where 1t was old for its weight ia silver. or about en times the then price of opium. In GUS twenty doses of the powder were ent from Rome to Paris 1t cost of s5e, and Cardinal Mazarin recon nended its use in q dangerous illness f Louis XIV. That Peruvian bark was administered to the French king. is un- onbted, but an interesting piece of historical evidence points to different ouree as the means of its introduction that court. In lGT9 weil-known .ondon physician name1 Tabor cured haries II. of tertian fever, with the ow famous bark, which he regarded 2 the hands of skilled persons sas n oble and safe medicine. Compared 1ith the nature of the ''elixirs' which ad been in all good faith comp 5unded or James l. for a similar distemper. he new drug was indeed worthy of dmiration. The fame of Charles phv- elan extended to France and Louis Tvs surgeon published an account