The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1906-03-09
Quinine One of the Most Value
bile Known to Medical
Science.
CUTS INDIA DEATH RATE
Exploration in Tropical Countries
Would Be Impossible Without the !
Aid of This Fever
Preventive.
From The Chicago Chronicle.

Quinine is one OF the most saluabloI
of all the drugs known to medicaly
science. !
No one would venture tc travel ln}
India without it. Before its ~discoveryl
100000 people died annually In India
of malarial fever. The mortality from
this cause is now less than ilalf that
number.
The poor people-so poor that theyi
looked upon the fever as their fate and
expected no relief-are saved by the.
keep her European soldiers in Indiaj
without 1t.
Livingstone and other travellers mi
central Africa could have never madet
their discoveries without it's aid. 1t Isl
said of the great German exploreri
schweinfurth that when he lost his!
entire property by fire, valuable scien-'
l1ilc instrument among the rest. he
felt the loss of his ~quinine to be tho
greatest of all, and often thought with
rear of the journey that lay before him.
which, however, he p~ersevered In.
The soldiers in the American civil,
war depended greatly upon quinine.,
The pioneers in this country when Iii
was first settled and civilized had as
hard work fighting fever and ague in;
the then swampy, malarial districts as
In fighting Indians, and quinine wasi
even more necessary than firearms
Needed on Panama Can.l. {.
The great in~teroceanic canal now I'M
process of construction across theI
lsthmus Of Panama requires the labori
pf thousands Of men largely u~naccus-.
toned to the climate and so much more
susceptible to its Ill effect. Before thol
route was decided upon mar %kurveys|
were made. and the men. laval offlcersl
and others engaged in this work weroi
exposed to all conditions of weather.,
But through the universal and preperl
use of the medicine daily as \ precau-l
tlonary measure h mortality was mol
greater than among men in nke employ
In other localities. Out of q little over,
5000 white men employed In the cOn-i
structton OF the Panama railroad there
were only 293 deaths, and some Of theses
were the result of other than climatic
causes. .
The whole world is indebted TO tho:
chinchona tree, from which auinina
Is made. Who could have foretold that,
this tree, q native OF the mountainous;
forests OF South America, would be OF
such Importance in the advance OF
civilization and Christianity
Its safe transportation from one sidoi
OF the world to the other and the sue!
cess attained In converting q Wild into,
a cultivated plant and natur2lning t,
strange things about auinine H that
it. Is not used as a medicine In tie!
practice Of the native physicians Of
Peru, Ecuador or Colombia
Called by Many Names
The native Indians did not event
know OF Its curative property iii en-,
Hghtened by the Spaniards about $50
wears ago. They called the ~chinclonai
tree kina, from which comes the word
quinine. What do you call it-twtDe.;:
k%in-nine. keen-neen or kin-neen1
What a lot OF names the drug has hadtt
China bark, quina, quinquina, chin,
chona bark, Quinine, cincona, countess,
powder, Jesuit's bark. Cardinal, do;
l-ugo's powder, Peruvian bark, etc.
Great fortunes have been made out,
OF 1t. At the time when Louis NV,
purchased the secret a pound Of the
bark cost about $50. AS it came into
general use 1t became a most import,
ant article of export from Peru Now,
1T Is successfully cultivated In CeyIOn.
and Java.
AS a means OF guarding the eystem,
from Intermittent fever the Eosiishl
naval regulations require that every
man should take a portion OF HI drug
when the ship Is within a certain dist
lance of the east or west conat OF
Africa, and that 1t should be REGULARITY
taken by those engaged in boat cruts-|
Ing along the coasts OF on the rivers
or creeks.
We may say With as much truth noWi
as did Lambert in 1920: The treas
ures which Peru yields and which tho
Spaniards sought and dug out of tho,
bowels of the earth are not to b CONF
pared for utility with the bark Of the
quinquina tree, which they for . lonxl
time ignored"