January, 1909.] 



19 



DRUGS. 



QUININE IN INDIA. 



Quinine has become in the Indian 

 mind the type and chief of Western 

 drugs, says the Resolution upon the 

 triennial report on the working of chari- 

 table dispensaries in the Punjab. Mala- 

 ria here as elsewhere is the chief 

 scourge, and, with the habitual resort 

 to quinine, the Indian has come to feel 

 that it is on this that hospital treatment 

 must rely. The result is that when the 

 supply of quinine proves inadequate, 

 as is often the case, there is disappoint- 

 ment, as though no other treatment 



could be effectual, and doubtless the 

 growing confidence in hospital treat- 

 ment receives some check. One remark- 

 able feature of outdoor medical relief is 

 disclosed in the report, that is the num- 

 ber of patients who did not see the 

 doctor themselves but were represented 

 by friends. This system so far from 

 waning seems to grow, for in this case no 

 fewer than 230,475 sufferers underwent 

 " absent treatment." The proportion of 

 those so dealt with varies so greatly in 

 different districts as to suggest that 

 tactful methods might effect some im- 

 provements.— Indian Aqricultmist. Vol 

 XXXIIL, No. 9. 



