Quinine is a naturally occurring alkaloid with antipyretic, analgesic, and, most importantly, antimalarial effects. For many years, it has been a critical component in malaria therapy, as well as the tool that, indirectly and silently, enabled the rise of imperialism in Africa. That is why we discuss the history of quinine.
The Story of Quinine.
The bark of the Cinchona tree, which thrives in South America’s Andean jungles, yields quinine. Its bitter taste distinguishes it, and in small quantities, people use it to flavor beverages like tonic water and medicinal items. Kina-kina (bark of barks) was one of the final pharmaceutical treatments introduced from the New World into Europe.
The discovery of Kina-Kina
According to legend, an earthquake caused the Indians of Malacatos, a small town in northern Ecuador, to discover that drinking water from a lake into which some trees had fallen had the potential to reduce fever. For a long time, the Peruvians guarded the “fever tree” secret with jealousy. In fact, the Spanish discovered it about a century after their arrival among the Incas, in 1630.
Quinine and malaria share a close relationship. Prior to the discovery of quinine, malaria was a lethal disease. The indigenous peoples of South America have traditionally utilized Kina-Kina bark to treat fever.
The Countess’ Powder
According to another tradition, doctor Juan de Vega employed this medicine to treat malaria fever in Countess Francisca Hernandez de Ribera, wife of Peru’s Viceroy. This curative medication has also been known as “the countess’s powder” since then.
Before departing for Europe in 1639, the Countess distributed the healing bark to the Jesuits of Lima. Despite many doctors’ protests, it expanded throughout Europe thanks to Cardinal Juan de Lugo of the Medical College of Rome. For this reason, kina-kina was also known as “Cardinal’s Powder” for a long time. It was also known as “Jesuit’s Bark” or “Peruvian Bark,” and it swiftly gained popularity in Europe as a malaria treatment. But not without controversy and criticism.
History of Quinine: The Fiery Dispute
In the mid-17th century, the booklet “How to Use the Bark Called Fever” circulated in Rome. It was similar to a handbook, with all the necessary information and instructions for administering this remarkable treatment. Quinine quickly spread, prompting a passionate debate among doctors, both convinced and skeptical, over its true usefulness.
The ancient humoral theory, which maintained that imbalances of humor in the human body caused fevers, limited quinine’s effectiveness. According to this idea, eliminating the surplus material was the only way to cure the fever. However, the administration of quinine did not elicit this “expulsion” through sweating, vomiting, or diarrhea.
Between skeptics and eager doctors.
Quinine’s main adversary was Jean Jacques Chifflet (1588-1660), physician to the King of Spain and Governor of the Netherlands. Chifflet wrote a document in which he claimed that cinchona was a toxin that necrotized the viscera and absorbed radical moisture, resulting in death due to a failure to discharge excess fluids.
Sebastiano Bado, a prominent Italian figure in the dispute surrounding the use of cinchona, utilized it extensively in Genoa’s hospitals. Bado adamantly maintained the drug’s efficacy in treating fever. He wrote two highly significant treatises on medical history to encourage his colleagues to adopt them.
Bado’s works and theory
The first publication, “Cortex Peruviae redivivus profligator febrium” (1656), was a vehement defense of quinine’s therapeutic properties, as well as a report on the testimony of prominent figures whom he cured. The second, “Anastasis Corticis Peruviae, sive Chinae-Chinae defensio” (1663), was a three-volume work in which the doctor recounted the case history of 600 clinical records as well as the testimonials of other colleagues about their usage of the medicine.
Bado attributed quinine’s therapeutic properties to its occult features, which arose from the mix of the various elements that comprised it. Classical medicine held that the success of a therapy depended on the temperament of the disease itself. Instead, Bado believed that a drug with the opposite temperament to the sickness was effective. As an antidote to poison. According to this theory, the heat of Cinchona bark might eliminate the cold humor of quartan fever.
Talbot’s Contribution
Talbot, personal physician to the King of England, was another ardent promoter of cinchona. He wrote “The kina-kina and hers are of excellent quality” in 1687, which became immensely popular in Italy. According to Talbot, the curative effects of cinchona for fever stem from the various flavors found in the bark: cold, hot, dry, moist, bitter, spicy, and so on. The patient had to take quinine immediately after symptoms began and throughout the illness.
These medical treatments confirmed the success of quinine as a medicine for treating other diseases. Its popularity in Europe escalated to the point where Spain established an authorized supply chain for the gathering and sale of the miraculous bark.
Pierre Joseph Pelletier and Joseph Bienaimé Caventou.
However, it wasn’t until 1820 that two French chemists, Pierre Joseph Pelletier and Joseph Bienaimè Caventou, were able to isolate quinine, a cinchona alkaloid with apparent antimalarial properties. The effective isolation of quinine from Cinchona bark enabled standardized manufacturing of antimalarial medications. This had a huge impact on public health, especially in tropical areas where malaria was prevalent.
Why Quinine facilitated imperialism in Africa
Thus, beginning in the 1840s, even Europeans in Africa gave up bloodletting and purgatives in favor of quinine. Indeed, in 1848, a circular from London to all British administrators of African colonies recommended that all Africans take quinine. Quinine became rare in the mid-nineteenth century as a result of high demand from all over Europe and the colonies.
Governments began to consider acquiring cinchona plants and growing them in areas under European control, not just for health reasons, but also for trade. The Dutch in Java were the first to do this. The English attempted to acclimatize the plants in their Indian colonies beginning in 1860, transporting examples from Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador. These tests were effective, and within a few years, the amount of quinine available was sufficient to meet demand again. Thanks to the Dutch establishment in Java, the African continent was no longer known as “the white man’s grave” due to the enormous death toll from malaria.
Relationship between quinine and imperialism
Thus, the linkages between quinine and imperialism in Africa were an important part of colonial history and public health during that time. During the European empire in Africa, quinine enabled and facilitated colonial expansion into malaria-infested regions. It was the sole effective cure for malaria, which was a major impediment to European exploration and colonization in Africa.
The European monopoly on quinine production gave them considerable control over who got access to the medication. This increased the power of the Europeans in Africa. While European immigrants had access to quinine, the native population was vulnerable to malaria.
The Story of Quinine: Final Chapter
Throughout the twentieth century, the use of quinine in malaria treatment declined as more effective and less toxic antimalarial medicines became available. However, the story of Quinine remains a compelling example of how a medical discovery can have far-reaching consequences for geopolitics and human history on a worldwide scale.
The Story of Quinine Gallery
