No Quinine

Result of Jap Invasion of Indies

FOR very many years, quinine (pro duced from the bark of the Cin chona tree) has been a monopoly of the Dutch, in the East Indies. One effect of the occupation of the East Indies by the Japanese has been the virtual dis appearance of quinine supplies from all of the Allied countries.

This is a serious matter. In all the countries of the tropics (especially Africa, Southern India and Central America) quinine still is the standard prophylactic for use against malaria.

Quinine, always, has been essential equipment in British and French homes in Papua, New Guinea, Solomons and New Hebrides. There is no malaria in the Pacific east of Longitude 180 —a fact that we regard as one of the mysteries of medical science.

There is, as yet, no indication of how the situation is to be met. Presumably, present supplies of quinine will be strictly rationed; and the Americans may be expected to proceed immediately to restore the quinine-producing industry to its original home in South America — as they already have done in the case of rubber.