Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-05-25
ouIN1NE AS A UNIVERSAL DRUG.
It's Value to the Human Race by No
Means Fully Appreciated.
From the New York Press.

From the New York Press.
assume that every one in the civilized
world has taken a dose Of quinine. 1t Is
the universal drug. Its value is unappre-
eiated by the masses, who use 1t only for
colds and fevers-the same thing. AS
tonic 1t is unsurpassed. As an Alternative
It has no equal in the materia medica. /
heard a distinguished surgeon say: IF 1
wanted to ferment a barrel of cabbage in
less time than anybody else could do it /
would put in 1t eighth OF an ounce of
auinine. A little quinine in the disordered
stomach acts just about as 1t would in the
cabbage. 1t hastens the assimilation of
the food and restores the normal condi-
tons"
Habitual users of quinine are slaves to
it, but derives little benefit from 1t. Men
with malaria eat 1T by the ounce, and still
keep the malaria. The world Is full of
quinine drunkards, who pour a spoonful
into the palm Of one hand and lick 1T down
without grimace. have seen them chew
cinchona bark as one chews gum. Others.
not habituated, must take two grains or
ten in gelatine capsule. Before capsules
were invented 1T was taken in molasseS-
and the chances are that the molasses eff
fected the cure. Too much of n Is nearly
as bad as too much calomel. Great for
tunes have been made out of 1t, however,
and It's cultivation in Ceylon and Java is
said to be successful.
There are several pretty romanees con-
nected with the discovery of ''kina," as
the native Indians of Peru called the Gin
chona trees from which quinine Is derived.
What do you call it-kwi-nine, kwe-neen,
kin-nine. keen-neen or kn-neen? 1t Is pos
sible that your pronunciation Of the word
may discover your birthplace. What lot
of names the drug has had! Quinine. ein-
chona, countess powder. jesuits bark
Cardinal de Lugo's powder, Peruvian bark,
China bark, auina,- quinquina, cinchona
bark, etc.
The world is indebted to Louis XIV for
it's general introduction. In France and
Italy physicians who prescribed it's use
were prosecuted. Protestants altogether
repudated it. Robert Talbot, an English
man, cured the dauphin with 1t, and Louis
lie Grand was induced to buy the secret. He
was the only king that ever embarked in
the drug business,
The discovery of cinchona bark is en-
veloped in mystery. The wife of the Span
ish vieeroy in Peru was Countess Chinchon
She cured of an intermittent fever by
drinking an infusion of the bark, intro
duced 1t In Madrid and bestowed her name
upon it-Chinehona. We have corrupted
this into cinchona. That's one story. An
other is that the Jesuit missionaries, who
were accustomed to taste the bark of every
tree they hewed down, discovered the pre-
cious febrifuge. third is that certain
animals while In a fever happened to
gnaw the bark of the cinchona tree and
were cured. A fourth Is that some per-
sons suffering with fever drank eopiously
of a pool of water in which some fallen
cinchona trees had long been soaking,
charging the water with the medicinal
principle. Their speedy cure led to an in
vestigauon which discovered quinine.
| One of the strangest things about quinine
is that it is not used medicine in the
practice of the native physicians of Peru,
| Ecuador or Colombia. The Indians did not
even know of its existence until enlight-
ened by the Spaniards about $50 years ago.