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PHARMACY  OF  THE  CINCHONAS.  291 
Then,  as  in  the  extraction  of  quinia  all  these  other  derivatives 
are  in  great  measure  sacrificed  and  wasted,  it  is  not  difficult  to 
see  that  the  use  of  artificially  prepared  quinia  salts  involves,  be- 
side the  expense  and  profits  of  extraction,  an  absolute  waste  of 
the  other  useful  constituents  of  the  Cinchonas  at  a  time  when  the 
source  of  supply  is  becoming  precarious  and  in  danger  of  exhaus- 
tion. If  physicians  would  limit  the  use  of  quinia  to  its  legiti- 
mate sphere,  and  apply  Cinchonas  to  their  much  more  extended 
legitimate  sphere,  there  would  be  an  important  economy  in  re- 
sults, in  cost,  and  in  the  future  prospects  of  this  important  drug. 
There  are  but  two  very  good  arguments  against  a  very  large  re- 
duction in  the  use  of  sulphate  of  quinia  as  a  tonic.  The  most 
important  of  these  is  that  Cinchona  barks  of  similar  appearance 
are  very  variable  in  quality  and  often  worthless,  while  the  tests 
of  value  have  not  been  considered  of  easy  application.  The  other 
is  the  smallness  of  compass,  and  greater  convenience  of  adminis- 
tration in  the  use  of  sulphate  of  quinia.  To  these,  and  to  fashion, 
which  is  cultivated  by  chemists  as  well  as  by  milliners,  is  the  use 
of  sulphate  of  quinia  as  a  simple  tonic,  mainly  attributable.  It 
may  be  easy  to  rail  at  fashions  in  medicine,  but  when  based  upon 
avarice  and  want  of  knowledge  they  are  about  as  little  likely  to 
yield  as  fashions  in  dress  which  are  based  upon  frivolity  and 
ostentation. 
In  these  days  of  medicine-made-easy  it  would  be  very  difficult 
to  convince  many  patients,  or  their  pliant  medical  attendants 
either,  that  a  bitter  dose  of  any  preparation  of  Cinchona  was 
better  than  a  sugar-coated  quinia  pill,  and  therefore,  except  by 
setting  acknowledged  and  established  truths  in  front  of  bad  prac- 
tices, the  writer  does  not  propose  to  attack  these  evils  here. 
The  first  and  most  important  argument  against  the  use  of  Cin- 
chonas as  tonics,  namely,  the  variable  quality  of  the  barks  as  .met 
with  in  the  markets,  is  however  entirely  within  the  domain  of 
practical  pharmacy,  and  it  is  a  prominent  object  of  this  paper  to 
suggest  a  means  by  which  the  force  of  this  argument  may  be 
diminished. 
The  varieties  of  Cinchonas  to  be  considered  here  are  those  tech- 
nically known  as  "Red"  and  " Yellow,"  and  it  is  well  known 
that  both  these  can  be  purchased  in  the  common  market  at 
