New-York tribune., 1905-07-23
CHIEF. AMONG ALL DRUGS.
Quinine Has CIT Dozen Death Rate
an India.

Cu:nine s one Of the most valuable Of all the
drugs known 10 medical science.
No one would venture 10 travel in India with
out il. Before its discovery two million people
died annually in India of rnalaria fever. The
mortality from this cause is now less than half
that number.
The poor peo7Ie-so poor that they looked
upon the fever as their rate and expected no
reiief-are saved by the agency of qu1nlne.
England could not keep her European soldiers
IN india without l..
Livingstone and other travellers in Central
Africa could never have made their discoveries
without its aid II is said of the great German
explorer Schweinfurtn that when he lost his
entire property by fire valuable scientific in
struments among the rest. he felt the loss Of
his Quinine 70 be the greatest Of all. and often
thought with fear OF the journey that lay before
him. which. however. he persevered in.
The soldiers in the American Civil War de-
pended greatly upon quinine- The pioneers in
this country when II was first settled and civil
lied had hard work fighting fever and ague in
the then swamDy, malarial districts as in fight
ing Indians. and quinlne was even more neces-
sary than firearms
The great interoceanic canal now in process
of construction across the IsthnUs Of Panama
requires the labor of thousands OF men largely
unacCustOmed to the climate and much the
more susceptible 70 its iii effect Before the route
was decided upon many surveys made.
and the men, naval hcers and others, engaged
IN this work We asposed TO all conditions of
weather But tarough the universal and proper
use of the rl --Iclne daily as a precautionary
measure the mortality no greater than
among r. in like employ in other localities
out of a little more than six thousand white
men employed in the construction Of the PAN
anna Railroad there were only 293 deaths. and
some Of these were the result OF other than eli
matte causes.
The whole world is indebted to the chinchona
tree, from which quinine is made. Who could
have fOTetOld that this tree, a native OF the
noun famous forests OF South America, would
be OF such Importance in the advance Of civili-
ZatiOn and Christianity?
It's safe transportation from one side Of the
world TO the other and the success attained in
converting a wild lrtc = cultivated plant and
naturalZing i reads like Il romance. one Of the
strange things ABOUT qUnne is that il is NOT
used as q medicine IA the practice OF the native
physicians of Peru, Ecuador or Colombia
The native Indians ala even know OF IFS
curative property til enlightened BY the Span
iards about 10 years ago They called the
chInchon2 three Eina from which comes the
word qunine. What do call it-kwine kim
nine, keen-neen or kin-neen2 What a lot of
names the drug has had! China bark quina
qulnquina7 chinchona bark, quinine cincona
countess powder JesCits bark Cardinal de
Lagos powder. Peruvian bark. etc
Great fortunes have been made out OF IT, AT
time when Louis XIV purchased the secret
a pound of the bark cost about $50. As Il came
into general use IL became most important
article CT export from Peru Now II is success
fully cultivated IN tfSylOn and Java.
AS means Of guarding the system from in
termittent fever the English naval regulations
require that every should take q portion of
the drug when the ship Is within certain dis
tance of the east or west coast OF A frica and
that IL should be regularly taken by those en-
gagged IN boat cruising along the coasts the
rivers or creeks.
We say with much truth now as did Lam
bert in 1870: The treasures which Peru Yields
ana which the Spauiards sought and dug out OF
the bowels OF the earth are not to be compared
for utility with the berk of the quinquina tree
which they for a long time ignored. "-tChIcago
Chronicle.