These claims were supported by testimonials which usually gave no indication of a demonstration of the presence or absence of malarial plasmodia in the blood. The following is an example showing the character of most of the evidence presented by the manufacturers:
“Three weeks ago I prescribed Sinkina for a negro man 40 years of age suffering from a double tertian malarial infection having a chill every afternoon for four consecutive days. He came to my office about 8 a. m. and was due to have a chill about 6 p. m. I gave him the sample of Sinkina and directed him to take a tablespoonful at once, also at noon and again at 4 p. m., and to continue taking it in same size dose three times a day till he had taken it all. He reported to me in a week from that date and told me he was feeling fine and that he hadn’t had any more chills. The patient up to this time is apparently cured.”
As the claims were supported by a few testimonials purporting to be based on exact investigations, the Council submitted the preparation to careful laboratory and clinical tests. For this investigation the Council was fortunate in securing the help of physicians actively engaged in the study of malaria.
Experiments were made in vitro with the preparation; 1 ounce of Sinkina was used, and its action was compared with that of 10 grains of quinin sulphate. When these were added to cultures of malarial plasmodia in proportion corresponding to 1 ounce of Sinkina or 10 grains of quinin sulphate for a 150-pound man, the quinin was found to be unfailingly antagonistic to the malarial organism, the drug prevented the segmentation of the organism, and finally killed it in about thirty-six hours. The Sinkina did not kill the parasite after seventy-two hours of continued action, and the parasites segmented in the presence of it just as actively as they did in the control.
The investigator was furnished with two sets of preparations in plain prescription bottles so as to avoid all influence of the personal equation. One set consisted of Sinkina, the other of a mixture of alcohol, sugar and water with some oil of cumin. The investigator reported that, so far as the tests on the cultures of malarial plasmodia were concerned, he could not determine any difference in the results obtained with the oil of cumin preparation, made in the laboratory of the Association, and those obtained with the Sinkina of the Metropolitan Pharmacal Company. Clinical trials were made by three independent investigators. Two of them received the two sets of preparations described.
FIRST INVESTIGATION
The first investigator treated two cases with Sinkina: one was of the ordinary estivo-autumnal type and the other an ordinary tertian.
Cases 1 and 2.—A good many schizonts were present in the blood of each patient forty-eight hours after the administration of Sinkina. In the instance of the case of tertian the patient had his chill forty-eight hours after the medicine had been started. As the Sinkina failed to produce any effect the patients were then put on quinin to stop the disease.
Case 3.—The patient had taken 10 grains of quinin on the day on which the experiment was begun. He had the tertian form of the disease, and plasmodia were quite numerous at the beginning. The quinin was discontinued and Sinkina was given in doses of 1 ounce three times a day. The day following the administration of 10 grains of quinin and 1 ounce of Sinkina, no parasites could be found in the blood. The Sinkina was continued in the doses mentioned. On the seventh day the patient had another chill, and a great many parasites were found in his blood. The Sinkina was discontinued and the patient was at once relieved by quinin.
This investigator gives it as his opinion, based on these observations, that the preparation (Sinkina) is absolutely worthless in the treatment of malaria, and he does not think it necessary to make any further experiments with it.