Chronicles of Pharmacy, Vol. 2 (of 2)Wootton, A. C.
History
Chronicles of Pharmacy, Vol. 2 (of 2)
Wootton, A. C.
Pharmacy -- History
About the middle of the century Warburg’s Tincture had acquired great
reputation in India. Lt.-General Sir Mark Cubbon K.C.B., Commissioner
of the Mysore province, seems to have first made it known. At his
own expense he supplied 1,500 bottles to the medical officers of his
commission. Subsequently remarkable evidence was given before a Royal
Commission, appointed to inquire into the health of the Indian Army,
by Major-General Cottin R.E., who stated that many great engineering
works carried on in “deadly jungles” had been brought to a successful
issue mainly through the protection afforded to the workmen by this
tincture. In an article published in the _Lancet_, November
15, 1875, Professor W. C. Maclean, Inspector General of the Army,
gave still more striking testimony. He said he had treated remittent
fevers of every degree of severity contracted in India, China, and the
Gold Coast, and had never known quinine when given alone act in the
characteristic manner of this tincture. A dose of 9½ grains of quinine
in Warburg’s Tincture would often not only arrest the exacerbation of
the fever but would frequently prevent its recurrence. He had never
known quinine have that effect. In the same article Professor Maclean
published the formula for the tincture which Dr. Warburg had confided
to him on the advice of his friends. It was as follows:--Socotrine
aloes 1 lb.; East India rhubarb, angelica seeds, confectio Damocratis,
of each, 4 oz.; elecampane, fennel seed, saffron, prepared chalk, of
each 2 oz.; gentian root, zedoary root, cubebs, picked myrrh, camphor,
larch agaric, of each 1 oz. Digest these ingredients in 500 ounces of
proof spirit in a water bath for 12 hours, express, and add 10 oz. of
sulphate of quinine. Replace the mixture in the water bath till the
quinine is dissolved, and filter.
The tincture was supplied in 1 oz. bottles, and ½ oz. was given for a
dose after the bowels had been evacuated. The other ½ oz. was given 3
hours after.
Three years later Professor Maclean wrote to the _Times_ stating
that Dr. Carl Warburg was living in England in poverty. The large
fortune he had made from his tincture at one time had disappeared, and
the publication of his formula had resulted in the loss of his income.
He asked that the Indian Government would make some provision for him
in return for the publication of his valuable secret. The India Office
made a grant of £200 to Dr. Warburg in 1882, but in June, 1890, the
Hon. Sydney Holland wrote to _The Chemist and Druggist_ appealing
for further assistance. The old man was then 86 and Mr. Holland and
Professor Maclean had collected enough to provide him with 15s. a week
for the rest of his life. This was the last heard of the old gentleman,
and his case may be remembered as a caution to over-scrupulous
inventors of remedies.
WARD’S REMEDIES.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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