The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1907-10-03
THE DISCOVERY OF cu.n!N=.
Ono of the Most Useful Msdicir,3, Il
is Much Abused by Many.

lS muCn HDuSSu Gy maNy.
1t Is to be assumeds that every ore
in the civilized world has taken a-
dose of quinine at some tlue or u.lar
II is the universal drug. I,a y..I1
Is unaDpreciated by the uaasla. e.to
use IL only for colds and ;oyers As
tonic it is unsurpassed. As a. al.
teratiye it has no equal in the moteria
medca. a distinguished surgeon said:
If | wanted to ferment a barrel Of
cabbage in less time than any one
else could | would put in it an eighth
Of an ounce of Quinlne. A litJle GAi4-
inc in the d,s0rGered stomach acls
just about as it would in the cabbage.
It hastens the assimilation OF the Good
and restores the normal conditions"
The habitual user OF quinine. how
ever, becomes q slave to the drug
and thus derives little benefit from
1t. Men with malaria eat 1t by the
ounce and still retain the malaria.
The world is full of qulnine feuds,
who pour i spoonful into the palm OF
one hand and lick it down without
a Srimace. They are known to chew
clnchoEa bark as If it we're gum.
Others, not habituated, must take two
grains or ten in gelatine cap
sule. Before capsules were invented
IL was taken in molasses, and the
chances are that the molasses effected
the cure. Too much quinine is almost
had a too rpnoh palOD1al
The world is indebted 20 Louis
XIV for the general Introduction OF
quinine. In France and Italy physi-
clans who prescribed its use were
prosecuted. Protestants altogether
repudiated it, Robert Talbot, an Eng
lishman. cured the dauphin with it,
and Louis lie Grand was induced to
buy the secret. He was the c7ly
king that ever embarked in the drug
business.
There are several pretty romances
connected with the discovery Of
"kina," as the native Indians of .'eru
called the cinchona trees from which
qu,nine is derived. The drug has had
lot OF names-quinine, cinchona,
countess powder, Jesuit's bark, Car
diral de Lugo's powder Peruvian bark.
China bark, quina, quiquina, cinchona
bark. etc. and the pronunciation OF the
word "quinine" appears to be a mat
ter Of geography-kwi-nine, kwe-neen,
kin-nine. keen-neen, or kin.neen-take
your choice.
The discovery OF cinchona bark Is
enveloped in mystery. The wife Of
the Spanish Viceroy in Peru was
Countess Chinchon. She was cured
of an intermittent fever by drinking
an infusion OF the bark, introduced II
in Madrid and bestowed her name
upon it-Chnchona. We have cor
rupted this into cinchona. That's one
story. Jesuit missionaries, who were
accustomed to taste the bark OF every
tree they hewed down, discovered the
precious febrifuge A third Is that
certain animals while in fever hap
pened to gnow the bark of the Gin
chona tree and were cured. A fourth
Is that some persons suffering with
fever drank copiously of a pool of
water In which some fallen cinchona
trees had long been soaking, charg-
ing the water with the medicinal prin-
ciple Their speedy cure led to an
investigation which discovered quin.
nine
A strange fact in this connection is
that quinine is not used as medicine
in the practice of the native physi-
clans of Peru Ecuador or Colombia.
The Indians did not even know of it.
existence until enlightened by the
Spaniards about $50 years ago.