THE JUBILEE OF QUININE.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 919, 12 September 1910, Page 8

THE JUBILEE OF QUININE.

■/:.Thisvyear, iis,. the;':iubilee/,;'pf 'the :.first sowing of '.-imported cinchona./ seeds in. India. /In. February,.lß6o,;. Sir. Clements :Ri:Markham/'who. still survives to'have honour^aid-'hinv.'.instituted.' this opera-. tion...<;Hejwent to", Bolivia 'and/Peru••.'t'p'r make:' ./personal //selection .;:'f6f •';.■. cinchona'' Slants,;,' andu brayed i,;manyc, hardships ' in oing sb'. : . /Sometimes ;he had/no food 'but a- little maize; '.ho\.endured ''extreme's of. heat, and/; cold;;got -badly,::stnng: Lby/hornets'- and ; bitten.. b'y / mosquito's, had /to ..camp/iri'. the': dangerous 'proximity, of jag- ; iiars; and poisonous.. snakes;'.'and -risked malarial fever'; amonc; rotting' vegetation; Ho knew/;h0w..,t0 :discriminate .between valuablejand'worthless,chinehona species, and the result .of his investigations, and of/those 'whom, ho. appointed ton' follow them- up,, is.that, the -prico'iof sulphate of,' quinine .has/been/'reduced^to . a fortieth 7 -of its; thim prbhibitiveuprice; Be-' introduction'-."of /chinehona .into: India quinine cost/about.; 20s ; ; an - ounce, and .wa's/freque'ntly'sold to' at much higher rates. :'■ Sir. Clements; If ark- ■ ham's. achievement'; brbu'g'ht Uhis, invalu-. able, drug within, the'reach, of the slenderest; purse, , and : i.t is /'no "exaggeration to'.sav that, the employment/of valuable 'febrifuge : has many.: a;, time stood between : .life. and;,: death-. - ; . Formerly -. its prohibitive;. price' drained: the'.- pockets: of the poor,-and^necessitated,its sparing use in-many 'a medical/institution; it is now available for;i the., poorest • -bread-winner.' In former' days'/the:'.natives '.of ;.feverhaunted Indian districts;had no hope.of being' able '-.to .provide quinine;.: now it is their.:commonremedy. Since quinine has been used -extensively ..among! the troops in India, ,the has steadily declined. - Sir Clements 'B. Markham,' writing after the fulfilment: of- his, task of fifty years, ago, said:; "The present measure:, will riot .'only-, has since done, so ; -indubitably—a' constant ..and oheap supply of quinine to/thosowho already enjoy its benefits, but it will also bring its use within the means of millions' who have,hitherto,been unable to •procure it. Many-lives will thus annually be; s'aved by its'agency. In former ages its use; would perhaps have changed the history of the world. Alexander the Great died of the common remittent fover of Babylon- merely from the want of'a.'few :doses of quinine. Oliver: Cromwell/was carried off by ague, and hid Peruvian bark been administered to him, which was even then known in London, the greatest and most patriotic of ■' England's rulers would have been preserved to his country." On tho 30th mst., Sir -Clements Markham ' attains his eightieth birthday.