QUINET 



QUININE 



535 



made the blow he struck the order the deadliest it 

 had received in France since the days of Pascal. 

 But his lectures caused so much excitement that 

 government suppressed them in 1846. Next came 

 the Revolution, in which Quinet took his place on 

 the barricades, and after its success was elected to 

 represent Ain in the National Assembly, where he 

 voted in the Extreme Left. He was little of a 

 practical statesman, but from the beginning he 

 saw the traitor under the mask of Louis Napoleon. 

 After the coitp d'etat he was exiled to Brussels, 

 whence in 1857 he migrated to Veytaux on the 

 shores of the Lake of Geneva. His mother had 

 died in 1847, his wife in 1851, and soon after his 

 exile he married the daughter of a Roumanian 

 patriot, Georges Asaky. At Brussels he produced 

 /.<.< Esclaves (1853), and an edition of the chief 

 writings of Marnix de Ste Aldegonde (1856); 

 and in Switzerland Merlin I'Enchanteur (2 vols. 

 I860), a book of enormous rhetorical power, lofty 

 but ill-sustained thought, and dazzling imagery. 

 Other works were La Revolution Religieuse au 

 XIX.' Siecle (1857); Histoire de mes Idees (I860), a 

 delightful fragment of an autobiography ; Histoire 

 de la Campagne de 1815 ( 1862 ), in which he showed 

 that Napoleon's fall was due to his own outrage 

 u(K>n righteousness alone ; La Revolution ( 1865 ), 

 in which he demonstrated that its frightful crimes 

 were the fruit of the suspicions and mistrust 

 begotten by twelve centuries of despotic education. 

 All the disasters of French history he traced to the 

 national denial of righteousness in the Revocation 

 of the Edict of Nantes ; the Terror was the direct 

 re.tult of St Bartholomew and the Dragonnades, 

 and again was itself the parent of the 18th 

 lirumaire and the 2d December. After the down- 

 fall of Napoleon III. he returned to Paris, and 

 during the siege strove to keep aglow the expiring 

 fire of patriotism. He sat in the National Assem- 

 blies at Bordeaux and Versailles, and aroused great 

 enthusiasm by his impassioned if somewhat vague 

 orations. He died at Versailles, 27th March 1875. 



Quinet's latest books were La Creation ( 1870 ), a 

 characteristically bold and imaginative incursion into 

 the domain of science; La Ripublique (1872); and 

 L'Eiprit Nuiivcaii ( 1874 ). Le Livre de V Exile appeared 

 posthumously. His wife published in 1870 Mfmuim 

 tPExil; his Cormpondance Inedite followed in 1877 

 (2 Tola.), his Lettrei f Exil d Michelet et a Divert Amit 

 in 1884-86 (4 vols. I. An edition of his (Euvre* CnmpK ta 

 in 26 voU. (1857-79) was prepared by an influential 

 committee as a national tribute of respect to tin- poet, 

 the prophet, and the patriot. See the biography by 

 Chassin (1859); Edijar Quinet depu.it VExil (1889), by 

 his widow ; Richard Heath's Etlnnr Quinet : Hit Early 

 Life and Writing! ( 1881 } ; also the essays by Professor 

 Dowden in Studiel in Literature ( 1878), and K. Montegut 

 in Melamjei Critique! ( 1879). 



Quinine is an alkaloid having the chemical 

 formula C2,,H, 4 N,O,,3H,O. Along with cinchoni- 

 dine, cincfiomne, and a large number of other 

 alkaloids, it is present in the bark of numerous 

 species of Cinchona and Remijia, of which these 

 substances constitute the active medicinal prin- 

 ciples. Good barks yield an average of 5 to 6 per 

 cent, total alkaloids, of which one-half is quinine 

 and cinchonidine, the other half consisting of the 

 other alkaloids in varying proportions. Quinine is 

 by far the most important from a medical and com- 

 mercial point of view ; the yield of it varies greatly, 

 1J and 8 per cent, being the extremes. Quinine 

 is obtained from the powdered bark by treating 

 it with lime, and then extracting the mixture with 

 alcohol, neutralising with an acid so as to obtain a 

 salt of quinine, and finally purifying the product. 

 In 1820 Pelletier and Caventou isolated pure 

 quinine, and demonstrated that it was the chief 

 active ingredient in the bark. Many attempts 

 have since been made to prepare it artificially, but 



without success. For the introduction of the bark 

 into Europe, and the culture of the tree in South 

 America and (recently) in India, see CINCHONA. 



Quinine itself is not used in medicine, owing to 

 the inconveniences arising from its insolubility in 

 water, but many of its salts are, and two of them, 

 the sulphate and hydrochlorate, are included in 

 the British Pharmacopffiia along with numerous 

 preparations of cinchona-bark containing them. 

 The sulphate is the most commonly used prepara- 

 tion, and it is popularly known as quinine. It 

 occurs in small, silky, snow-white crystals, which 

 have a purely and intensely bitter taste, and are 

 sparingly soluble in water (1 in 700 parts); its 

 solutions have a bluish or fluorescent colour even 

 when very dilute. In alcohol or dilute sulphuric 

 acid it is very soluble. The hydrochlorate closely 

 resembles the sulphate, but is much more soluble 

 in water (1 in 34 parts), and its solutions are not 

 fluorescent. When treated with excess of chlorine 

 water and a few drops of ammonia solution, solu- 

 tions of quinine give a clear emerald green colour ; 

 if ferrocyanide of potassium be added this changes 

 to a ruby red. 



Preparations of quinine, and especially the sul- 

 phate, are very largely used in medicine. Locally 

 applied dilute solutions (2 to 4 gr. to the oz. of 

 water) have a germicidal, antiputrefactive, and 

 antifermentative action, hence they are used as 

 lotions in hay fever, diphtheria, cystitis, and 

 similar diseases. As a bitter tonic small doses 

 (i to 2 grains) are frequently given in general 

 debility, atonic dyspepsia, anaemia, scrofula, con- 

 valescence from acute diseases, and other conditions 

 where tonic treatment is required. It is also of 

 great value as an antipyretic and antiperiodic. In 

 healthy persons it does not reduce the bodily tem- 

 perature, but in typhus, typhoid, rheumatic, and 

 some other fevers it is extremely valuable in this 

 respect. A dose of 3 to 15 grains may le given in 

 these cases. In certain fevers it does not reduce 

 tem]>erature. In malarial affections of all kinds it 

 is supreme, and at present no other known drug 

 can compare with it in efficacy. In intermittent 

 fevers and ague the best plan is to begin its 

 administration about eight haul's liefore the attack 

 is expected, and continue it in hourly doses for 

 three or four hours until 15 to 30 grains have been 

 given. It cuts short or aborts the recurring febrile 

 attacks. It is also of great value as a prophylactic 

 in persons who are exposed to the risks of malarial 

 poisoning. In such cases three grains twice daily 

 is usually considered a sufficient dose. 



Quinine is also largely given in neuralgia and in 

 inflammations. Large doses are very apt to irritate 

 the stomach, and sometimes produce a train of 

 symptoms known as cinchonism. There is singing 

 in the ears, dizziness, deafness, a feeling of fullness 

 in the head, and disturbance of vision all of 

 which usually pass off without leaving any ill 

 results. In some cases the effects are more severe, 

 and may lead to dangerous depression and collapse, 

 especially if the patient be already weakened by 

 disease. Certain persons are very susceptible to 

 the action of quinine, and suffer from cinchonism 

 after small doses. In others skin eruptions, oedema 

 of the face, irritation of the bladder and kidneys, 

 and other disagreeable effects are sometimes seen. 

 Workers in quinine-factories also occasionally sutler 

 from skin eruptions. These accidents are, how- 

 ever, comparatively rare. 



The sulphate of cincbonidine and sulphate of 

 cinchonine are also included in the British Phar- 

 macopoeia. They have the same actions and uses 

 as quinine, but are very much less used. They 

 seem, however, to be efficacious, and are cheaper. 



See works by J. E. Howard (1876), C. E. Markham 

 ( 1880), Hanson (1882), and Kliiokiger (1884). 



