ENGLISH MEDICINAL RHUBARB AND HENBANE. 
8 L 
is, showing the nature of the case with its most prominent symptoms, and anything 
else that may occur to you in the elucidation of the investigation. 
“ (4) Two ounces of each of the following alkaloids have been dispatched to you, for 
which you are requested to send a receipt on their safe arrival:— 
Sulphate of quinine. 
Sulphate of cinchonine. 
Sulphate of quinidine. 
Sulphate of cinchonidine.” 
4. In analyzing the various reports that have been received, the Committee begs 
briefly to observe that the results of the experiments that have been made are most fa¬ 
vourable. There is no difference of opinion as to the highly valuable effects of these 
alkaloids, though, as was to be expected, there is some difference of opinion as to the 
exact order of importance in which their medicinal virtues should be arranged. All 
concur in assigning to them most valuable therapeutic effects as febrifuges, anti- 
periodics, stomachics, and tonics, and they have been most successfully tried in fevers, 
in neuralgic affections, and rheumatism, in debility and want of appetite. All give a 
preference to the sulphate of quinine, after which most, though not all, rank quinidine, 
though others prefer cinchonine, which again is by many placed at the bottom of the 
list. In the treatment of disease one of their most important properties seems to be in 
their effects when given alternately with other remedies, and with each other ; as, for 
instance, both quinidine and cinchonine proved effectual in cases of fever where quinine 
and arsenic had failed. One medical officer, in recording his want of confidence in cin¬ 
chonine as an anti-periodic, states that he found it most useful in diarrhoea, and as a re¬ 
storer of appetite. 
5. The Committee having thus tested the efficiency of these alkaloids on a scale suffi¬ 
ciently extensive to ensure decisive results, has unanimously come to the conclusion that 
they form a very valuable class of therapeutic agents; and taking the order of the instruc¬ 
tions sent to medical officers, they consider them to be,— 
1st. Febrifuges, anti-periodics, and tonics. 
2nd. Their general effects are similar to those of quinine, though perhaps in an infe¬ 
rior degree. 
3rd. As variously estimated, they possess the same effects as quinine, to the extent of 
one-half or two-thirds. 
4th. They are very efficacious in treating the common fever of the country, heini- 
crania, and disordered digestion, etc. etc. 
5th. Their relative value seems to be,— 
1st. Quinine. 
2nd. Quinidine. 
0 j f Cinchonidine ) . . 
3rd ‘ l Cinchonine j about equa1, 
6th. Their proper doses are,— 
Quinine, from 3 to 20 grains. 
Quinidine, from 5 to 20 grains. 
Cinchonidine, from 7 to 20 grains. 
Cinchonine, from 7 to 20 grains. 
I have, etc., 
F. S. Arnott, M.D., C.B., President of Commission. 
ENGLISH MEDICINAL RHUBARB AND HENBANE. 
BY RUFUS USHER, ESQ. 
Although the introduction of medicinal rhubarb into England is dated by Parkinson 
as far back as 1629, no real experiments of its culture and preparation for medical use 
appear to have been made till 1762, when a quantity of seed was sent from Russia, by 
Dr. Mounsey, from which period till about 1800 it was successfully grown in small 
quantities by many scientific men, after which it was cultivated at Banbury on an 
increasing scale, and is now known in the commercial world as a general article of trade 
VOL. IX. G 
