The state republican. (Jefferson City, Mo.) 1871-1896, 1896-02-20
ALL ABOUT QUININE.
The Drug Which Has Been Of the Greatest
Benefit to Mortals, Its History and
Character.

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Character.
From the New York Independent.
In a company of prominent physic-
ians each was asked to write the six
remedies that he would take on board
ship for voyage round the world, If
his life were to depend on the number
who should return alive. The first
entry was "opium,' unanimously in
dorsed At the second entry the vote
was o tie between mercury" and
"quinine, and now that bichloride of
mercury has been found to be the most
efficient of microbe killers, probably
that would have second place unanim-
ously, and the third would be unhesit-
latingly given to the various extracts of
tsie 30 W sssrvsl yaristies tire
Is quinine, a name derived from tSsss
used by the Peruvian Indians, who
call the trees kina. The generic name
was given in memory Of the countess
of Cinchon, who was the wife of the
Spanish viceroy. She had been cured
of fever by 1t in 1888. The Jesuits-
missionaries in Peru-were said to see
its merits, and carried the wonderful
bark to Rome, distributing it where
needed thus it gained the name of
Jesuits' bark, and, coming from non.
professional source, was coldly re.
ceived by the generality of regular"
physicians, though here and there an
empiric used it with great benefit to
his patients and its name excited SO
much prejudice in Protestant minds
that many Of them refused to avail
themselves Of it. But Sir Robert Tai
Dor gained fame and fortune in France
by using it for intermittents, and in
1879 Louis XIV purchased the secret of
him and made it a free gift to his
people. Soon after Morton and Svden-
ham-the most eminent physicians of
the day in England-used it with sue
cess. When it became an important
item Of Peruvian export the country
tried to conceal the fact that the tree
was also growing in New Grenada
The oldfashioned method of admins
tration was by macerating the "quills"
of bark in wine and the great tonic in
the early part of this century was
bark and wine, " and as in these later
days it has been demonstrated to be
directly fatal to the bacillus malaria,
we can easily understand what boon
1t was to the "settlers" in the un-
drained and "fever- and .ague" regions
of this country when new. At last,
by the advance of chemical skill, the
secret of extracting its alkaloids was
found, and Of these no less than thir-
teen are known and used, and some of
them produce valuable medicine at
So great was the demand for it, and
so wasteful the method of gathering it,
that it was easy to see that the original
sources Of supply would be exhausted
and attempts were made to transplant
the trees to regions where similar eli
matte and Typographical conditions
gave promise of success. Some of
these early attempts failed, but in 1854
the Dutch government undertook to
raise the trees in the island of Java,
and now they have most prosperous
plantations, but the most extensive and
successful of what may be called intel
ligently conducted plantations are to
ha fO,,,,I tba olanao nf fhn Hit,no.
layas and in British Burmah. In
South America the bark is obtained by
first stripping the trunk, then telling
the tree, but under English botanists
in India a way is found of partially
stripping the trunk and then surround
ing it with moss, causing fresh bark
to be produced. The botanists have
even found way of making the bark
fuller of the desirable alkaloids We
rejoice that such precious boon to
malaria afflicted mankind has been
brought under the sway Of intelligent
men, but we do not forget that it came
from South America It was the want
of quinine that sent mourning into
many French homes, and the letters
giving the story Of malarial swamps
and fever stricken soldiers of NADIA
gascar is most grewsome reading, and
it is said that the Spanish general in
Cuba sends out for hundreds Of pounds
of quinine, rather than more shot and
she'll In one sense Germany may be
said to be the modern medicine pur-
veyor of the world. 1t was her chem
lists and doctors in the last century who
demonstrated the value Of the minerals
mercury, arsenic, antimony and sui
phur, and now they have planned a
systematic attack on the vegetable
kingdom. The Berlin Pharmaceutical
society has established central Office
for extending the worlds knowledge
of poisonous and healing plants and
they expect to receive reports from al
parts of the world on the botanic,
chemic and archaeological discov
cries in plants of healing or poisonous
nature
Solioitude Reoiprooated.
From the Eastern Argus.
A Somerset attorney who relishes ,
Joke at his own expense saws he one,