QUININE

An alkaline base obtained from yellow bark; the Cinchona cord/folia. This substance, combined with sulphuric acid, forms the sulphate of quinia, which is now so extensively used as a medicine, and as a substitute for the various forms of Peruvian bark. To obtain quinia, bruised yellow bark is boiled in repeated portions of water, acidulated by sulphuric acid, till all its soluble matters are extracted; a little exce of quicklime is then added to the strained decoction, and the precipi tate which is ibrmed is collected, washed, and carefully dried; it is then digested in alcohol, which takes up ihe quinia, and from which it may be obtained in the form of a yellowish uncrystallizable substance by careful evaporJOIO of breathing. The disease has proved tatal t^ producing suffocation, but it generally terminates in resolution, or suppuration: in the latter case the absce breaks, and a good deal of pus is discharged, and the patient is at once relieved of all his urgent symptoms; but it occasionally happens that the other side of the throat becomes affected, and goes through the same stages. [s. 1023]