February i, 1888.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
53i 
as regards the reBult of the Amsterdam cinchona sales 
until long after they were finished. It has been, gene- 
rally asserted, both in the press and in private reports, 
that " extreme prices " were paid, aud that the unit 
fully maintained the advance of the recent London 
sale-;. There is no doubt that nothing of the kind 
happened, aud that our telegram of the result of the 
auctions, giving the unit'as slightly below that of the last 
London sales, was entirely correct. The action of the 
principal quinine operators, who since the Amsterdam 
sales have shown much more disposition to yield to 
the market, is in itself a sufiicieut proof of the correct- 
ness of oar report. 
Qcimnk.— It is stated that Mr. Alexander Boh- 
ringer, at the request of the board of directors of 
the Now York Quinine and Chemical Works (Limi- 
ted) has resigned his position as manager of that 
company's factory at Brooklyn. 
Annatto.— Seed is in rather large supply. Several 
parcels Ceylon were bought in, 3.VI being the price for 
good bright. Pair to good, slightly damp, s"ld at 2|d 
to 3Jd per 11). ; dark and mouldy. 2d to 2-£d per lb. 
Fifteen baskets Pari roll, good bright, which have been 
frequently offered, came up again for sale. They were 
bought in at Is 9d per lb., but Is 4d was suggested as the 
price. 
Bakl Fruit remains neglected. Even good fruit 
appears almost invaluable, aud the two lots of com- 
mon discoloured fragments offered today had to be 
withdrawn, no offet' being forthcoming ; 1.^1 per lb. was 
solicited. — Ckeinilt and Jhiojyist, Dec. 15th. 
QUININE IN HEKOIC DOSES. 
Anything that is likoly to induce a large con- 
sumption of quinine is sure to benefit a cultivation 
which it was at one time hoped would go far 
towards making up to our planters for the decadenco 
of coffee. We all know how very unfortunately it 
has chanoed that the bright hopes of large returns 
from cinchona cultivation have been frustrated. The 
supply of bark from the plantations formed in India 
and Ceylon has not only proved sullioient to counter- 
balance, as was all along expected, the falling-off 
in the natural supply from the forests of South 
America, but has created such a surplus as has 
proved to be largely in excess of the demand for 
the esteemed febrifuge. The result haB been to 
lower the price of cinchona bark in the European 
markets to such an extont as to nullify to a great 
extent the value of the tree as an adjunct to other 
pluming enterprises. 
But now, it appoars as if there is likely to bo a 
change in the practice of the administration of qui- 
nine. When we read — as wo did in our London 
li iter tho other day— of such foremost men in the 
drug trade as Messrs. Howard and Mr. Thomas 
Christy interesting themselves in tho subject, we 
may be tolerably certain that they regard the 
hubject at) one of importance, not to themselves 
alone as manufacturers and dea'crs respectively 
in tho drug, but also to tho medical profession 
and to tho general public We havo recently 
noticed and republished tho contribution niado to 
the English pross, towards stimulating the 
freer u •■ nf quinine as a prophylactic likely to stay 
to a great extent tho baneful use of opium. 
Much may be hoped from tho wide diffusion of 
our letter to the Ami -Opium Society on thol sub- 
ject ; but much more, perhaps, may result Imuld 
the Messrs. Howard and Mr. Christy associate 
thunmclvod lu un vudouvour to uprcad widely u 
knowledge which has gradually grown up in trop- 
ical countries of the superior value of quinine 
as a medicine when taken in what we have 
termed in the heading to this article " heroic " 
does. The usual dose prescribed in Ceylon in old 
days, as given in our medical hints for planters, is 
as much of the sulphate as would cover a three- 
penny piece. More recently, a similarly popular 
but increased dose was permitted, the direotion 
going as far as the quantity which could be heaped 
upon a sixpenny piece. Now we hear of some 
doctors who recognize the fact that even the last 
limitation effects but little good, and who have 
taken to prescribing the sulphate in quantities 
such as a teaspoonful or more ! Perhaps it might 
be thought that the great reduction which has 
taken place in the price of quinine may have 
brought about this change in medical practice, but 
our London correspondent tells us that he himself 
had such doses given to him by a doctor resident 
in Ceylon as far back as 1872, when Howard's 
sulphate was only purchasable in the colony at 
some 25s the ounce, and we are aware of more than 
one Ceylon planter who has been treated up to 20 or 
even 30 grains at a time. The fall in price cannot, 
therefore, be held to account to any appreciable 
extent for the changed practice. 
Writing on the subject separately, our London cor- 
respondent says : — " There are few residents in the 
tropics, I fancy, but have had sufficiently wide 
experience in the use of quinine to have commenced 
to realize for themselves, how almost useless the Lilli- 
putian doses of earlier practioe proved to be. That 
these doses eventually effected the object for which 
they were given cannot be disputed ; but it was only 
after long continued taking of them that they did 
so. The administration of larger doses was dreaded 
because there are few people who could take them 
without experiencing very unpleasant results, such 
as nausea and headache, a still worse one certainly- 
being the production of a state of sleeplessness. 
But, if all that I hear be correct, such doses may 
be used without unpleasant results if taken on an 
empty stomach and before rising in the morn- 
ing. 1 believe it has been discovered now 
that other drugs in the pharmacopoeia, the use 
of whioh has been restricted for the same 
results above described as following the use of 
heavy doses of quinine, may be safely administered 
with the same precaution observed as to the time 
and circumstances of doing so. If this fact beoome 
widely recognised among home medical practitioners 
you may soon hear of a far more popular use of 
quinine in European countries than has yet been 
known. There are many people who would hesitate 
to wait for a cure during the long time required 
to effect it by the use of small dosos of the 
medicine, but who would willingly submit to its 
employment if tho beneficial results could be at- 
tained to in a. few days only. Whether in the 
long run more quinine would be consumed under 
such an innovation on former custom or not, I 
can hardly say; but if the rapidity of cure can be 
established, there is no doubt it would bo far more 
frequently prescribed than at present. Not alone 
is ancient custom likely now to be largely de- 
parted from in the direction referred to, but it is now 
fully established that tho stimulant in which 
quinine has always more or les6 been given is 
not valuable alone as a solvent for the drug, but 
is absolutely necessary to stimulate the circulation 
so as to carry it rapidly throughout tho system 
before it becomes absorbed into the food and so 
to a great extent lost. To bo effective, it is now 
rualittod that quinine must pasB with rapidity 
throughout tho voinous system. If absorbed by 
solid matter its cnoct is nearly wholly loil," 
