Early History Of Quinine: The history of quinine through the years has been inextricably bound up with the history of the cinchona trees. Soon after its introduction into Europe the demand for the bark became so great that the plants in South America were stripped, and the quinine industry in South America was nearly stopped before it had started. Attention was immediately focused on growing the trees in other countries. In 1860, this was tried in Java, Jamaica, India, Ceylon, and Australia. Interest in the project was stimulated by the Dutch East Indian government, and Java became the flourishing center of the quinine industry.
By intensive cultivation, the Dutch planters produced a better quality of quinine in a greater quantity than could be produced from the low-yielding South American bark. The Dutch thus cornered the world market for quinine, and at the start of the Second World War 90 per cent of the world's supply of quinine came from the Netherlands East Indies. When the Japanese invaded this area early in 1942, the entire supply of the quinine and cinchona bark to the United Nations was cut off.
QUININE, kwi'nin, or QUININ, the bitter tasting drug of great value in the treatment of malaria, is the most important of the cinchona alkaloids. Its chemical formula is GioH24O2N!. The name is derived from the word quina, of Inca origin, and means bark. This natural alkaloid occurs in the bark of the cinchona trees which grow on the slopes of the Andes.
Who first discovered that the bark of these trees was good for the shaking chills and fever of malaria, has been the subject of much debate. The early history of quinine is a series of colorful legends, more or less inaccurate, the most famous of which is the story of the Countess of Chinchon.
|
|
Photography
