484 VEGETABLE DEUGS 



of boiling alcohol ; also soluble in 1316 parts of chloroform, 

 and almost insoluble in ether. 



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



CINCHONA AND ITS ALKALOIDS AS REPRESENTED BY QUININE. 



Action External. — Quinine is a powerful antiseptic and 

 microbicide. A solution (I to 250) of the alkaloid or its 

 salts are poisonous to the fungi of fermentation and putre- 

 faction. 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 mucous 

 membranes, but exert no effect upon the unbroken skin. 



Action Internal. — Digestive Tract. — Quinine, in thera- 

 peutic doses, acts as a simple bitter (stomachic), and there- 

 fore promotes appetite and gastric digestion. It stimulates 

 the gustatory nerves in the mouth and gastric nerves in the 

 stomach, thus reflesly increasing the flow of saliva and 

 gastric juice, and the vascularity and peristaltic motion of 

 the stomach together with the appetite. Experimentally, 

 quinine retards the action of the gastric and pancreatic 

 ferments. Large doses, particularly if the stomach be 

 irritable, may cause vomiting. Quinine becomes dissolved 

 in the gastric juice and is converted into the chloride. A 

 portion unabsorbed 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 

 great excess. 



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

 naturally be precipitated in this alkaline fluid ; but this is 

 not the case, and it has been shown that quinine is probably 

 'leld 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 amoeboid movements of the white corpuscles in 

 blood reraoved from the body. "When a frog receives large 

 doses of quinine and its mesentery is irritated, the white 



Digitized by Microsoft® 



