Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1907-07-24
cUININE FIENDs ARE MANY.
Introduction of Drug as a. Medicine
Due to Louis XIV.

Introduction of Drug as a Medicine
Due to Louis XIV.
1t is to be assumed that every one
in the civilized world has taken a dose
OF Guinine at some time or other. It
IS the universal drug It's value is I'M
appreciated by the masses who use ii
only for colds and fevers. AS tonic it
is unsurpassed. As an Alternative it has
no equal in materia medca.
A distinguished surgeon has said eff
l wanted to ferment barrel of cab
bage in less time than anyone else
could 1 would put in it an eighth Of an
ounce CT quinine. A little quinine in
disOrdered stomachs acts just about as
1t would in the cabbage. 1t hastens
the assimilation Of the food and re
stores normal conditions"
The habitual user Of quinine, how
ever, becomes a slave to the drug and
thus derives little benefit from it. Men
with malaria eat it by the ounce and
still retain the malaria. The world is
full of quinine. fiends, who pour a spoon
ANA AAlO Tic RdIul VI OIle uduQ duO
lick it down without a grimace.
They are known to chew cinchona
bark as if it were gum. Others not
infatuated must take two grains or
ten in a gelatine capsule. Before cap
sules were invented it was taken in
molasSes and the chances are that the
molasses effected the cure Too much
quinine is almost as bad as too much
calomel.
The world is indebted to Louis XIV
for the general introduction of quinine.
In France and Italy physicians who
prescribed its use were prosecuted.
Protestants altogether repudiated it.
Robert Talbot, an Englishman, cured
the dauphin with it, and Louis lie
Grand was induced to buy the secret.
He was the only king that ever en-
barked in the drug business.
There are several pretty romances
connected with the discovery of ''kina,"
as the native Indians of Peru called
the cinchona trees, from which quinine
is derived. The drug has had a lot
Of names-quinine, cinchona, countess
powder, Jesuits bark, Cardinal De
Lugo's powder. Peruvian bark, China
bark, quina, quiquina, cinchona bark,
etc. and the pronunciation of the word
''quinine" appears to be matter of
graphy-kwi-nine, kwe-neen, kin
nine, keen-neen or kin-neen-take your
choice.
The discovery of cinchona bark is en-
Spanish viceroy in Peru was Countess
Chinchon. She was cured of an inter
mittent fever by drinking an infusion
of the bark, introduced it in Madrid
and bestowed her name upon it--chin-
chon. We have corrupted this into
cinchona. That's one story. Another
is that the Jesuit missionaries, who
were accustomed to taste the bark of
every tree they hewed down, discov
cred the precious febrifuge. -
A third is that certain animals while
in a fever happened to know the bark
of the cinchona tree and were cured.
A fourth is that some persons suffering
with fever drank copiousiy Of 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 investiga-
ton which discovered quinine.
A strange fact in this connection is
that quinine is not used as medicine in
the practice of the native physicians Of
Peru, Ecuador or Colombia. The In
dams did not even know of its exist
ence until enlightened by the Spaniards
about $50 years ago.