258     Yerba  Santa  for  Disguising  Taste  of  Quinia. 
YERBA  SANTA  (Eriodictyon  Californicum),  AS  A  MEANS 
OF  DISGUISING  THE  TASTE  OF  QUINIA. 
By  Henby  M.  Kier,  M.  D. 
Living  in  a  malarious  country,  where  intermittent  and  typhoid  fevers 
prevail,  physicians  cannot  be  indifferent  to  the  many  urgent  requests  of 
their  patients  to  provide  them  with  a  remedy  devoid  of  bitter  taste,  and 
which  can  be  taken  easily.  Accordingly,  in  furtherance  of  this  uni- 
versal desire,  I  have  experimented  to  quite  an  extent  in  the  endeavor 
to  obtain  an  innocent,  palatable  vehicle  for  the  administration  of  the 
bitter,  active  anti-periodics ;  but  with  indifferent  success,  until  some 
four  or  five  years  back,  I  commenced  the  use  of  the  Yerba  Santa,  in 
the  form  of  elixir  and  syrup,  and  found  it  to  be  a  most  excellent.remedy 
to  disguise  the  taste  of  many  bitter  drugs.  The  well-known  bitterness 
of  the  quinia  salts  forms  a  great  objection  to  their  use,  but  when  given 
in  combination  with  either  of  the  preparations  above  named,  in  the 
proportion  of  ten  to  twenty  grains  to  the  fluidounce,  they  are  rendered 
palatable,  or  at  least  tolerable,  are  retained  much  more  readily  by  a 
delicate  stomach,  and  can  be  given  in  this  manner  without  the  patients 
knowing  anything  of  the  nature  of  the  remedy  prescribed. 
The  peculiar  property  of  the  Yerba  Santa  leaf,  in  imparting  to  quinia 
the  taste  of  starch  when  chewed  and  held  upon  the  tongue  for  a  second, 
has  been  well  known  for  years  to  the  old  settlers  of  California,  and  it 
was  a  knowledge  of  this  fact  which  first  led  me  to  employ  it  in  the  form 
above  indicated. 
As  regards  the  plant  itself,  my  experience  has  taught  me  that,  like 
many  of  the  so-called  "  New  Remedies,"  of  which,  singularly  enough, 
we  have  heard  so  much  lately,  it  has  but  liltle,  if  any,  special  thera- 
peutical power,  and  can  be  given  ad  libitum  in  any  quantity  or  form 
prepared. ' 
Any  competent  pharmacist  can  prepare  a  syrup  or  elixir  in  the  man- 
ner he  may  deem  best.  However,  an  admirable  syrup  may  be  obtained 
by  boiling  for  an  hour  two  ounces  of  the  fresh,  or  recently  dried  leaves, 
with  fourteen  ounces  of  water  and  two  of  glycerin,  percolating  through 
the  residue  an  ounce  of  brandy,  and  adding  to  what  would  be  a  pint  of 
the  product,  two  pounds  of  sugar. 
A  working  formula  for  the  elixir  can  be  modeled  after  that  for  elixir 
calisaya,  substituting  for  four  ounces  of  yellow  calisaya  seven  to  eight 
of  the  Yerba  Santa,  and  for  the  syrup  one  pound  of  glycerin  and  eight 
