Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
July,  1888. 
Note  on  Antipyretics. 
363 
Like  salicylic  acid  it  was  first  used  and  extolled  as  an  antiseptic, 
and  it  was  brought  into  prominence  chiefly  by  Dr.  Justus  Andeer,  of 
Wurzburg.  Later,  in  1880,  Dr.  Lichtheim,  of  Berne,  showed  that  it 
was  also  an  active  antipyretic,  with  many  effects  analogous  to  salicylic 
acid,  and  for  some  time  it  was  used  quite  largely. 
Salicylic  Acid. — Salicylic  acid  had  been  long  known  and  many  of 
its  characteristics  well  studied,  when  in  1874  investigation  into  its 
therapeutic  effects  and  use  gradually  led  up  to  its  antipyretic  action 
now  so  well  known,  but  with  insufficient  investigation  it  has  had  to 
give  way  to  agents  with  newer  claims. 
Kairin,  or  Kairine,  and  Kairoline. — In  1882,  the  investigations  of 
Drs.  O.  Fischer  and  W.  Konigs,  of  Munich,  on  the  alkaloids,  assumed 
that  the  characteristic  properties  of  quinine  were  not  based  upon  the 
chinoline  nucleus,  but  by  the  introduction  into  this  nucleus  of  an  oxy- 
gen bearing  or  a  hydrogen  bearing  element.  A  number  of  substances 
were  prepared  in  following  up  this  new  departure,  and  these  were 
submitted  for  physiological  investigation  to  Dr.  W.  Filehne,  of  Erlan- 
gen.  The  net  result  of  these  joint  labors  was  the  production  by  Dr. 
Fischer  of  oxychinolinmethylhydride  which  was  called  kairine,  and 
by  Dr.  Konigs,  of  chinolinmethylhydride,  which  was  named  kairoline. 
The  first  of  these  soon  after  became  the  kairin  of  commerce,  and  halving 
been  patented,  was  extolled  and  advertised  into  a  large  usage.  This 
seems  to  have  been  the  first  of  the  antipyretics  that  was  started  as 
such,  and  it  was  more  largely  used  for  a  time  than  any  of  its  prede- 
cessors ;  and  it  did  more  to  introduce  the  fashion  upon  which  its  suc- 
cessors were  to  be  still  more  largely  used.  It  was  the  first  one  to  be 
stimulated  by  the  mercantile  influence  of  a  patent,  and  the  patentees 
took  good  care  that  all  that  could  be  said  in  its  favor  should  be  widely 
advertised.  Therefore  it  was  very  largely  sold  and  used,  and  laid  a 
good  foundation  for  its  successors,  as  its  disadvantages  were  slowly 
recognized.  The  patentees  are  also  the  patentees  of  its  immediate  suc- 
cessor, antipyrin,  and  they  are  the  well  known  enterprising  color 
makers,  Meister,  Lucius  and  Briining,  of  Hoechst,  Germany.  Each 
package  of  kairin  is  labelled  as  being  protected  by  letters  patent  in 
Germany  and  the  United  States,  and  importation  into  France  pro- 
hibited. 
Antipyrin. — In  the  early  part  of  1884,  Dr.  L.  Knorr,  of  Erlangen, 
synthetically  prepared  an  oxygenated  alkaloid  which  he  called  anti- 
