322 Dr. Hancock on Quinine. 



vitriol previously mixed ; and stir up the mass. Then add 

 half a pint of boiling water, stir it, and keep the vessel closely 

 covered, near the lire, at a scalding heat for an hour or two, 

 according as the ingredients may be more or less reduced or 

 pulverized ; as the coarser they are the more time is required 

 for infusion. A pint of boiling water is now to be added ; 

 and the digestion continued for an hour or two more, stirring 

 it occasionally, or shaking, without uncovering it. The infu- 

 sion may afterwards be strained, well pressed out, and bottled, 

 adding two or three bruised cloves, or a drop or two of the oil. 

 — As the pale bark contains chiefly cinchonine, which is said 

 to be most soluble in the muriatic acid, this, if preferred, 

 might be substituted for the sulphuric. 



Two or three ounces of good bark, prepared in this way, 

 will go as far, in the cure of intermittents, as two drachms of 

 quinine ; and, as a general tonic and restorative remedy, its 

 power is vastly superior to quinine, and may be considered as 

 inferior to no tonic whatever. 



The efficacy of the formula is improved by the addition of 

 4 or 5 grs. of ipecacuanha along with the other ingredients, 

 the beneficial effects of which, on the digestive functions, are 

 much greater than might be expected from so small an addi- 

 tion. This compound is best calculated, both for arresting 

 the progress of intermittents, and for a general tonic in weak- 

 ness of stomach and loss of appetite, and it is especially useful 

 in remittents, in typhus, and malignant forms of fever. By 

 strengthening the stomach and bowels, it proves the most 

 effective remedy against the breeding of worms in children, 

 i. e. after their expulsion by cowhage, or other proper vermi- 

 fuge ; the dose in such cases being a tablespoonful or two, 

 according to the age of the child. 



The reason for employing but a small quantity of water at 

 first, is to avoid overdiluting the acid, by which its energy, as 

 a solvent of the quinine or alkaloid, might be rendered less 

 efficient. It is also of much importance first to moisten the 

 ingredients with a little spirit. It serves as a medium to pro- 

 duce a far more perfect combination of the active elements of 

 the compound with a watery menstruum, than could possibly 

 be effected without it, 



