One Minute Quiz

1. In spite of new drugs, there are still millions of malaria sufferers in the world —a few of them in the South West Pacific area. From what was the name derived? 2. The first wonder drug , as far as malaria was concerned, was quinine, an alkaloid derived from the hark of the cinchona tree. How did the drug and the tree get their names?

(Answers on Page 86)

1. Although the real cause of mal a r i a—mosquitoes was dis covered in very recent years, man has been plagued by the disease since the first bog started to ferment. The disease was always associated with bogs and swamps and their vapours. Hence “mal! aria” —bad air. 2. What we now know as the; cinchona tree is a native of Peru.

It is not certain whether the pro perties, of the bark of this tree were known before the arrival in Peru of the Spaniards, but soon after it was found that infusions from the bark were effective in the treatment of malaria. Wife of an early Gov ernor of Peru, the Countess of Cin chona, was cured of the fever by a tincture made from the bark— hence the name given the tree. The local Indian name for the tree is Kina, from which was derived Quina. —then quinine.