ACTION OF OU-ININE 355 



quinine sulphate, by further concentration. Purified by crystallization from alco- 

 hol, and finally from hot water. 



Properties. — White, glistening needles or prisms; silky, acicular, odorless and 

 having a very bitter taste; permanent in tlie air. Soluble in 65 parts of v\^ater, 

 and in 90 parts of alcohol; also soluble in 620 parts of chloroform, and almost 

 insoluble in ether. 



Dose. — One-third larger tlian that of quinine sulphate. 



Cinchona and Its .ilkaloids as Represented by Quinine. 



Action External. — The action of quinine on all fomi.s of unditferenti- 

 aled protoplasm is to stimulate in small doses, or in much dilution, and to 

 depress and paralyze in large doses, or in strong solutions. It lias the 

 same action on unorganized living matter (ferments) in many cases but 

 does not affect some. It is still more destructive to protozoa, especially 

 to the organisms of malaria. Quinine is a powerful antiseptic and uiicrobi- 

 cide. A solution (1 to 250) of the alkaloid or its salts is poisouoas to 

 the microbes of fermentation and putrefaction. A one per cent, solution 

 quickly destroys bacteria and vibrios, but spores may live in it for some 

 days. Quinine and its salts cause irritation of the denuded skin, or 

 nmcous membranes, but exert no eftect upon the unbroken skin. 



Action Internal. — Digestive Tract. — Quinine, in therapeu.tic doses, 

 acts as a simple bitter (stomachic), and therefore promotes appetite and 

 gastric digestion. It stimulates the taste buds of the tongue and thus 

 appetite and, reflexl3r_, the "appetite" gastric juice which P.iwlow found 

 necessary in starting digestion; together with the flow of saliva and the 

 vascularity and peristalsis of the stomach. Experimentally, quinine 

 slightly lessens the activity of the ferments of the gastric and .pancreatic 

 juices (pepsin, trypsin) in dilution, while desLroyiiio thevji in larger 

 amounts. Large doses, jjarticularly if the stomach be irritable, may cause 

 vomiting. Quinine becomes dissohed in the gastric juice owA is con- 

 verted into the chloride. A portion unabsorbcd finds its way into the 

 bowels and is there precipitated by the alkaline juices and bile, whose 

 acids form insoluble salts with quinine, unless the bile is in grcnt excess. 



Blood. — Quinine is absorbed into the blood, and would ualurally be 

 precipitated in this alkaline fluid; but this is not the case, and it has been 

 shown that quinine is probably held in solution by the loosely combined 

 carbonic dioxide gas in the blood. Quinine possesses several well-defined 

 and important actions in relation to the blood. 



1. White Blood Corpuscles. — Quinine in great dilution lessens the 

 ameboid movements of the white corpuscles in blood removed from the 

 body. When a frog receives large doses of quinine and its mesentery is 

 irritated, the white corpuscles do not collect in the arterioles or migrate 

 through their walls (diapedesis). Again, when inflammation has already- 

 begun in the mesentery, quinine stops the transmigration of leukocytes, 

 and yet does not stop those in the tissues from wandering away. More- 

 over, large doses markedly lessen the number of white corpuscles in the 

 blood. Thus quinine has a pronounced toxic action on amebae, and also 

 on ameboid parasites, as of malaria, rabies, and intestinal forms. While 

 medicinal doses of quinine given by the mouth unquestionably ; loduce 

 leukopenia, yet it is generally considered highly improbable that the 



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