3

urine for many weeks after administration; and that 20 grains injected into
the flanks will protect an individual from malaria for the following month at
least. According to Megaw¹⁵ the temperature of patients suffering from
malaria takes about twelve hours longer in coming to normal when treatment
is by hypodermic injections (bi-hydrochloride of Quinine in doses of
10 grains) than when Quinine is given by the mouth, and consequently that
absorption is slower from the subcutaneous connective tissue than from the
mucous membrane of the stomach. Scott¹⁶ regards the hypodermic method
(intramuscular) as of no special value in the treatment of acute cases of
malarial fever, owing to slowness of absorption; but he considers this method
particularly useful as a preventive of frequently recurring attacks of ague.

       The authors of the National Dispensatory¹⁰ acknowledge that the tendency
of hypodermic injections to produce "pain, inflammation, gangrene and even
fatal tetanus more than counterbalances the advantages of facility of adminis-
tration and promptness of effect" and recommend that this method of adminis-
tration should be restricted to cases in which delay would be dangerous. The
importance of determining whether or not this "promptness of effect" is really
obtained by the hypodermic method is obvious.

       In an endeavour to throw some light on these debated points regarding the
absorption of Quinine, this work has been undertaken. The alkaloid and its
salts employed in the various experiments were obtained direct from Merck
(Darmstadt) and therefore in unopened bottles.

Peculiarities of Quinine and its Salts.

       Unfortunately, as the composition of many of the salts of Quinine varies
with different manufacturers and as the details (temperature, etc.) regarding
the conditions under which the results given by various analytical chemists
have been obtained are not alway given, there is much uncertainty regarding
the chemical properties, e.g., solubility, of some of these compounds. As
those used in my investigations were obtained from Merck, I have, whenever
possible, followed his analyses¹⁷ in the following table:—

Table 1.

C