The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1944-06-27

ton OF bits of knowledge made by
many different men. The synthe-
sis of quinine was the work OF
one man, Robert B. Woodward,
of Boston, although the man asso-
ciated with him, William z. Doer-
ing. gets credit for working out
a number Of technical details.
1t is hardly necessary TO en-
phasize the Importance of the dis.
coyery. If the adage-"Necessity
is the Mother of inyention"-hsd
not already been said, it would
have sprung into use to cover
this case.
Quinine is one Of the few speci-
fc drugs known to scientific medi-
cine. A specific is a drug which
has the property of killing off the
cause Of a disease without harm
ing the body cells Of the sick per-
son. Quinine is specific against
malaria. When dissolved in the
blood and tissue juices it kills the
malarial plasmodium at q certain
stage Of its development, but does
not affect the red blood cells in
the circulation or in fact stop the
activity or injure any body cells.
Importance of Discovery
Most of my readers will have TO
grasp the significance and impor-
lance Of this discovery through
their intehects, not their expert
ence, because most of US live in
the temperate zone where malaria
does not exist. Malaria is still
endemic in and around New Or
leans and the Southern States as
far north as Arkansas, but it is
not a terrifcally serious health
problem in this country. But in
spite Of that malaria is in its own
habitat the worlds greatest killer.
Certainly one Of the commonest
and most frequent of human
diseases.
Quinine was first found in
South America and tn, tree grows
naturally there. The Indians had
known Of it as a remedy for fever
for untold ages. The Spanish con-
querors in the Seventeenth Cen.
fury imported it into Europe,
where it was used for all sorts Of
non-malarial diseases. In 1920
two French chemists, Pelletier and
Caventou, isolated the fine drug
quinine from the bark of the Gin
chona tree.
For some reason or reasons too
complicated TO go into the fam
tastic situation developed that all
the quinine in the world was
grown in the Dutch East Indies.
Climatic conditions are favorable
for a very good grade of quinine
to be grown there, but not any
better than in Central and South
America, its natural habitat.
But we let the opportunities Of
establishing quinine plantations
in our near neighborhood go and
when the japanese conquered the
Dutch possessions in the South
Pacific we found ourselves in the
position Of having thousands Of
actual or potential malaria cases
on our hands and slender supply
of the means to treat it. And it
takes from eight TO ten years 10
grow a tree furnishing a good
yield Of quinine. Plantations have
been started in Guatemala and
Brazil, but they are too late for
this war.
Arti6cially Synthesized Quinins
So the announcement that an
efficient quinine can be artifcally
synthesized in the laboratory
comes as real news.
Organic chemistry has made
such strides that it took Wood
ward and Doering only IA months
TO solve their problem. There had
been some previous attempts and
partial successes. In 1856 an
Englishman, William Hervey
Perkin, attempted the operation,
but both the state Of knowledge
at that time and his technical
equipment were too deficient 1t
has been said that Perkins
chances for success were about as
good as those of carpenter who
tries TO build a house at the foot
Of hill by dropping the boards,
nails, shingles, etc, from the hill
top. But he furnished Woodward