2024-07-12 10:31:00
Plasmodium and its accomplice the Anopheles mosquito are the worst serial killers since the dawn of humanity. According to theoretical calculations, malaria has killed 55 billion people. The first successful remedy for this fatal trek was the magical quinine contained in the bark of the cinchona tree, a tree that dwells high in the Andes. For centuries, locals have used the bark to reduce fevers or reduce shivering caused by cold.
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In Lima, Peru, the plant was brought to him by the Jesuit priest and pharmacist Agostino Salombrini to install in his medicinal garden. After learning regarding the properties of cinchona bark, he said it might be able to reduce the shivers caused by malaria. bingo! Not only do people who receive treatment no longer have fevers, but they appear to be permanently cured of the disease.
The miraculous bark of the Jesuits
Father Salombrini commissioned all the Jesuits who returned to Europe to use cinchona bark to treat countless malaria patients in Europe at that time. The pope, the cardinal and Louis XIV’s son were thus cured. The news spread throughout Europe. Everyone craves the magical bark. But that doesn’t stop legions of doctors from remaining skeptical.
However, growing demand for the bark has led to a scarcity of cinchona in Peru, as locals completely uprooted cinchona trees and stripped them of their bark. Therefore, expeditions were organized to nearby countries, where they discovered other varieties of cinchona, but these were not always as effective.
In 1802, two Parisian pharmacists, Joseph Pelletier and Joseph Caventou, isolated the active ingredient from the bark and named it quinine. Their process produces 1,800 kilograms of quinine from 160 tons of bark each year. Other companies in European countries have also begun producing antimalarial powders. In 1900, there were regarding 20 people. At this rate, cinchona is becoming increasingly rare in the Andes, Peru, Colombia and Bolivia.
Anticipating a collapse in production in South America, the British and Dutch seized cinchona seeds and shoots they had grown in Asia, the British Indies, and Java (now Indonesia). The trees adapted perfectly to the move. At the end of the 19th century, the production of “Jesuit bark” in Asia exceeded that of the Andes.
Quinine led to the invention of homeopathy and… gin and tonic
In 1870, a German watchmaker named Schweppes, who made a fortune selling sparkling water, came up with the idea of adding quinine to the drink to prevent malaria. Its Indian tonic found great success in the British Indies, where it was drunk with gin. This is a gin and tonic, one of the most famous cocktails in the world.
During World War I, Germany no longer had cinchona plantations. Chemists are urged to find alternative solutions. They synthesized the more effective plasma quinoline from methylene blue, which has less antimalarial effect. France, Britain and other countries are working on other molecules. Rodoquin was created in 1930 at the Pasteur Institute. The Germans were counting on chloroquine. Americans developed primaquine.
Beginning in the 1950s, synthetic antimalarials that were cheaper to produce replaced quinine. Nivaquin arrived in France in 1949.
Even today, quinine is widely used in the tropics. Aperitifs containing quinine, such as cinquina, have recently disappeared. “Jesuit powder” was also used in hair conditioners and anti-flu infusions. It has also been used to establish the theory of homeopathy. Quinine can treat minor bleeding, tinnitus, and fever. We should not forget the power of aphrodisiacs. French President Felix Faure, who died at his mistress’s house, took quinine to train for his deadly weapon.
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#Jesuits #gin #tonic #history #quinine
