Cinchoninum sulphuricum - its use in Constipation

- BERNARD H,

The Cinchonine, as we know, is an alkaloid which is found in many species of Cinchona, especially the gray.
 The use of this substance in the treatment of constipation is mentioned by Dr. R. Noack, of Lyon. In his homoeopathic guide he divides habitual constipation into five classes :
 1. Constipation from inertia of the intestine;
 2. Constipation from alteration of the intestinal mucus;
 3. Constipation from contraction of the muscular fibres;
 4. Constipation from irritation or congestion of the intestine;
 5. Haemorrhoidal constipation.
 The most frequent of all, according to him, consists in a sort of inertia or inactivity of the muscular fibres of the intestines, which become distended and necessitate painful efforts in order to produce the expulsion of the faecal matters. These sometimes present an enormous mass, indicative of dilatation of the large intestine; hence, the application of a special remedy, the Cinchonine, five centrigrammes of the 3rd dec. trit., to be taken every other day.
 Dr. A. Noack, physician to the Homoeopathic Dispensary of Leipzig, after speaking of the employment of Sulphate of Cinchonine in the treatment of intermittent fever, adds : "In a case of dorsal muscular rheumatism, where there was stiffness of the back so that the patient was constantly bent over, terrible pains on turning the body, and when respiring deeply, sneezing or coughing, and also obstinate constipation, I gave for four days, one-fourth of a grain of Sulphate of Quinine, twice a day. There was an amelioration on the second day and a cure on the fifth. This remedy has rendered me excellent service in constipation, among others in a young woman who suffered from an irritation of the uterus and left ovary with painful digestion, continual eructations, fullness in the stomach after a meal, frequent cutting pains and obstinate constipation; this patient had often to render manual assistance to the escape of the small, hard, excrements, which were often bloody. I had no less reason to be pleased in a case of acute jaundice with desire to vomit, distended abdomen, colic in the umbilical region and persistent constipation. I can also recommend it from experience for the torpor of the intestinal canal, in consequence of dysentery."
 Following the recommendations given here, we have made several trials with this drug in the treatment of constipation presenting the above mentioned characters. If we have at times succeeded, we ought also to say that in the majority of cases we have failed. Was it our own fault or that of the medicine? The indications for this drug appear, at least, to demand a more complete symptomatic development.