94 



came entirely deaf and blind, the respiration was embarrassed, the 

 pulse was miserable, and the skin cold. Look through the books, 

 and say whether this would not be received as a fair description in 

 few words of "a pernicious, malignant, or congestive fever?" In 

 the case of Dr. Bazire (Prof. Dickson continues), " His respiration 

 became frequent, and resembled that of a man attacked by a grave 

 pneumonia, terminating in hepatization: his pulse was small and 

 irregular — his limbs chilled. After taking five ounces quinine, M. 

 Reveillon found him covered with cold sweats — completely deaf and 

 blind — his breathing difficult and rattling — in a profound stupor: 

 his physiognomy resembled that of a drunken man ; but, when he 

 could be roused, his replies were relevant." In a case where one 

 hundred and eighty grains were given by mistake, Giacomaii says : 

 Uneasiness in the stomach and head, with giddiness — nausea and 

 cardialgia followed : he fell senseless. Nine hours after, he lay on 

 his back motionless and pale ; fingers cold and livid; body cool; respi- 

 ration slow and sighing ; pulse regular, but slow, and hardly percep- 

 tible ; so also the action of the heart ; almost complete deafness and 

 blindness ; extreme feebleness of voice ; great thirst ; tongue pale, 

 and slightly moist, with white fur ; breath cold ; recovery extremely 

 tedious. 



According to Melier, as quoted by Professor Dickson, death, 

 delirium, coma, pneumonic symptoms, haematuria, amaurosis, deaf- 

 ness, obstinate gastralgia, diarrhoea, epileptic symptoms, and palsy, 

 is the fearful list of ills resulting from poisoning with quinine. The 

 same results were obtained by Magendie and himself on animals. 



What, then, is a fatal dose of quinine ? This question is, as yet, 

 not satisfactorily answered. The medicine comes to us so much 

 adulterated, that it is hard to say what is the maximum dose. 



Dr. Baldwin* has given the result of his experience of the 

 poisonous qualities of quinine, but they cannot be taken as fully 

 established, since his experiments were made on dogs. Dr. Baldwin 

 has, therefore, scarcely added anything to our previous knowledge. 

 All that there is of positive, is the cumulative power of quinine as 

 shown by the two cases of fever which he narrates, particularly the 

 last. He establishes no dose as poisonous, attributing the widest 

 range in this matter to the idiosyncrasy of individuals and the 

 pathological condition of the patient ; and confesses that he is aware 

 of no antidote. He gives rules for its administration which may be 

 useful, but possess no novelty. 



* American Journal, April 1847. 



