Quinine is best given in solution; the nauseous taste can be somewhat disguised by adding chloroform water or essence of ginger or lime juice to the solution. Many men take the drug in a little beer or spirit for the same purpose.
Quinine pills are, as a rule, very insoluble, therefore they are not suitable for explorers. Quinine in the form of a tablet, or in a capsule, or wrapped in tissue paper, acts well, but even tablets should be cracked or crushed. Sugar-coated products are inadmissible in the tropics.
Sometimes, owing to frequent vomiting or other cause, the quinine administered by the mouth cannot be retained. It must then be given by means of an enema or by injection into the muscles.
If the traveller decides to give an intra-muscular injection of quinine, he should only give five grains at a time. The dose should be added to about a teaspoonful of water which should then be boiled and allowed to cool. The amount of water is of little importance so long as enough is used to dissolve the drug, and keep it in solution when the water is cool enough to be injected. The less fluid, however, injected the better.
Injections are best made deeply into the muscles of the buttock. This is a method best left to a medical man, as there is danger of injuring the sciatic nerve.
The preparations of quinine.—Many preparations of quinine are made; they are all popularly known as quinine, their uses are similar, and the doses are as follows:—
| Dose, | one to five grains, | as a tonic. |
| ” | five or more grains | as a preventive of malaria. |
| ” | five to twenty grains, | in fevers. |
Sulphate of quinine.—This is the preparation most commonly used; but it is very insoluble in water, and should be given along with a little dilute acid.
Acid sulphate of quinine, sometimes called bisulphate, soluble or neutral sulphate of quinine.
The acid sulphate is much more soluble than the sulphate, and is a more suitable preparation for administration by the mouth or for injection into the bowel.