MATERIA MEDICA AND THERAPEUTICS.
Method of depriving Quinine of its Bitterness.—Believing that 1
have discovered a method by which quinine may be quite deprived of
of its great bitterness, without injuring its virtues in the least, I wish to
make it known to the profession. Perhaps I have been anticipated, but
if it be so I am not aware of it.
In August last, having occasion to prescribe for a little patient, who
was affected both with diarrhoea and intermittent fever, I ordered a com-
bination of quinine and tannic acid. The child took it so readily that
I tasted it, and was surprised to discover no taste of quinine, which I at
once attributed to the combination.
I have since prescribed it in a number of instances, and found that
whilst it was equally effectual, it was far more palatable than any other
combination of quinine I was acquainted with. On referring to the
American Journal of Medical Sciences, Vol. xix., page 219, (1836,) it
will be found that Dr. Ronander, Secretary of the Swedish Medical
Association, recommended the tannate of quinine and cinchonin as the
most active ingredients of the Peruvian bark. He asserts that he has
cured, by their means, several cases of obstinate ague, which had
resisted the use of sulphate of quinine, and other powerful remedies.
Nothing is said in the extract from the original paper in Flecker’s
Annals, December, 1834, of the taste of the tannate of quinine. Com-
pared with the sulphate, it is almost tasteless.
The following is the extemporaneous prescription I am in the habit
of ordering for a child two years old —
R. Quinise sulph. gr. x.;
Acid- tannici gr. ij.;
Aquae, 3vj.;
Syrup aurant. 5ij. M.
A teaspoonful every hour or two.
I enclose a note on the subject from one of our most intelligent and
careful apothecaries:—
Dear Sir,—I find, after trying a number of times, combinations of
quiniae sulphas and acidi tannici, in different proportions, that ten grains
may be deprived of its bitterness in a great degree by the addition of
one grain and a half of tannic acid. I think this is a proper proportion.
J. V. D. Stewart.
Dr. Thomas of Baltimore in American Journal of Medical Science.