THE 
Cinchona Cure 
FOR 
INTEMPERANCE, 
BY 
CHAS. W. EARLE. M. D., 
Professor of Diseases of Children, Woman’s Medical 
College, and Physician to the Washingtonian 
Home, Chicago. 
Reprint from the Chicago Medical Journal and Examiner, 
February, 1880. 
CHICAGO : 
BULLETIN PRINT, 106 1IADISON STREET, 
1880. THE 
CINCHONA CURE 
FOR 
1NTEMPERANCE 
CHAS. WARRINGTON EARLE, M. D.. 
Professor of Diseases of Children, Woman's Medical College, and Physician, 
to the Washingtonian Home, Chicago. 
REPRINTED FROM THE CHICAGO MEDICAL JOURNAL AND EXAMINER 
Fob February, 1880. 
Chicago : 
Bulletin Print, 106 Madison Street. 
1880. THE CINCHONA CURE FOR INTEMPERANCE, 
During the past two years those particularly interested in the 
subject of temperance in the city have had their attention repeat- 
edly directed to an “ Unfailing Cure for Drunkenness.” 
The discoverer says: “I can and do cure any case of drunk- 
enness that comes to me. He also claims that drunkenness is a 
disease concerning which there should be no dispute, and that 
the drug cinchona, when pure, will certainly cure not only the 
disease but the appetite for alcoholics. 
A pamphlet has been published, entitled “ Dipsomania. Dr. 
D’Unger’s Cinchona Rubra Cure for Drunkenness—Continuous 
or Periodical. What it is. How it was discovered. What it 
has done. Copyrighted, 1879, by Dr. D’Unger.” 
At the top of the cover of this pamphlet occurs this remarkable 
sentence: To Physicians, $10 per pint, six concentrations.” 
Concerning these concentrations I shall have something to say" 
later in this paper. 
This monograph on dipsomania has undoubtedly been circulated 
very widely, as in a letter dated June 9th, 1879, Scotland, I 
received the following clipping or extract: 
“ At the Chicago Washingtonian Home, an institution for the restoration 
of inebriates, four patients of the worst description—and two of whom had 
been inmates of various reformatory institutions—have been completely 
cured by the use of my Cinchona Rubra. The patients can be seen per- 
sonally by parties interested.” 
The letter was from a lady, who was greatly distressed in 
regard to a gentleman addicted to intemperance, and in closing, 
she said : “ Do pray give me your unbiased opinion in regard to 
this alleged cure.” 
A number of newspapers, among them several devoted particu- 
larly to temperance, have commented freely, and, in many cases, 4 
favorably upon the cure. The propriety of so-called temperance 
organs advocating the use of this drug will become apparent when 
an analysis of the compound is considered. 
It was at the time when the Chicago Tribune was giving the 
cinchona its hearty endorsement and various inquiries were being 
addressed to me, as the physician of the Washingtonian Home, 
as to the potency of the drug in curing drunkenness; and after 
three or four men had come under my care who had been pre- 
scribed for by Dr. D’Unger, with no apparent benefit, that I 
published the following in the Tribune of this city: 
THE CINCHONA CUKE. 
Chicago, December 28, 1878. 
To the Editor of The Tribune: 
I have very grave doubts as to the efficacy of the cure for drunkenness, 
advertised by Dr. D’Unger. God knows that no man has the interest of the 
drunkard more deeply at heart than I have, but I have alieady the history 
of several cases in which it has been of no use whatever, and, while willing 
to use everything which will liberate a victim from intemperance, I am 
fearful that an absolute injustice is being perpetrated by the wholesale and 
persistent advertisement of this so-called cure. As I have said, I have yet 
to meet with a case in which it has been of any benefit whatever; neverthe- 
less in the hope that my experience has been exceptional, I solicit an inter- 
view or correspondence with those who claim to have received benefit from 
or been cured by the cinchona rubrum. If it is a specific, I desire to know 
it; if it is not, I must be allowed to w'arn my patients agaiust, trusting in it. 
That there was an urgent and constant demand for a speedy, 
simple and sure cure for intemperance, one which should, 
as it were, operate mechanically, relieving the patient of all 
responsibility and apprehension, pain and struggling, not only 
among those who are victims of the habit, but among their anxious 
and sympathizing friends and relatives, was well known to me. 
I knew, too, that the human mind, even in a healthy state, is 
so ready to believe to be true that which the human heart most 
earnestly desires to be so, that many eager and credulous sufferers, 
who could ill afford it, would try the so-called unfailing specific 
before its clinical worth was established. 
I did not feel it to be my duty, at that time, to accuse any one 
of charlatanism, but it did seem that a great and grievous wrong 
was being perpetrated, and that too, mainly upon a class who 
already have been robbed and depleted to absolute poverty. I therefore wrote the above note, and, that it might be read by those 
particularly interested, published it in a newspaper. 
It was not necessary for me to publish anything for the medical 
profession—every physician who had read even portions of the 
published letters, particularly in the Tribune, had decided in his 
own mind that the discoverer's premises were erroneous from the 
vei*y outset. The assertion that alcohol is not absorbed, but passes 
directly to the brain over the nerves is enough to startle any phy- 
sician, and it is not probable that any medical man of intelligence 
would peruse, at any length, an article containing the following : 
“ Alcohol stimulates the nerve center—that is the brain—by pass- 
ing over the nerves externally. If a man were to get drunk by 
the action of liquor upon the nervous system as other things taken 
into the stomach act, it would be about four hours before he felt 
it.” Vide Inter-Ocean report. At page 16 in the pamphlet 
alluded under the head “ My Theory of Dipsomania,” 
the same statement is again made. 
The above is what the discoverer of the cinchona cure tells us. 
The facts are, that every physiologist from Magendie’s time, who 
in 1809 made conclusive experiments, to the present, including 
Carpenter. Flint, Dalton, Kuss and others have demonstrated that 
absorption took place only through the blood vessels or lymphatics. 
We have been aware that different soluble and volatile matters 
were absorbed with greater rapidity than others, always, however, 
through their proper channels, and while nerves do not absorb 
alcohol in the sense of conveying it from the stomach to the brain, 
they are profoundly affected by it through their blood supply. It 
is pretty generally admitted, too, by physiologists, that the reason 
why alcohol has this power, is because of its great affinity for 
albumen—nervous tissues being highly albuminous readily unite 
with the alcohol, to the extent possibly of changing the chemical 
composition of nerve tissue, though this is not positively known. 
The ease and rapidity with which chloroform, ether, camphor and 
ammonia are taken into the system is familiar to all. They are 
very volatile, but enter the circulation by the same process that a 
substance does whose absorption takes four hours. We are told, 
however, that alcohol, like electricity, goes over the sensitive 
nerves straight to the nerve cells, reaching them in a few min- 6 
utes. The discussion for one moment of such a theory is use- 
less, an absolute waste of time, an insult to the host of patient 
and scientific workers in physiology. If the author of this new 
theory will take the trouble to ligate all the blood-vessels 
running to the brain in one of the inferior animals, he will find 
that neither alcohol or any of the more easily absorbed substances 
will produce any effect whatever upon that organ. Absorption 
never takes place in, or through, or over the nerves. 
The pathology of this gentleman is, if possible, more unique 
than his physiology: 
“Drunkenness is a disease, a disease specifically caused. You will per- 
ceive after examining this drawing, that right in the center of these cells— 
this is a drawing that I made of the nerve cells seen within the cerebellum 
or smaller brain, through a microscope of three hundred and fifty diameter 
power—well, that black mark represents a “yel'ow fermentive substance; 
that is found only in the brain of one addicted to the use of alcoholic drinks. 
This substance is created and deposited there through the action of the alcohol 
taken into the system, upon the sugar contained within the blood. That 
which we term the appetite is nothing more than an expression of the 
nutritive wants of these fermentive products. I believe that I am 
thoroughly posted in regard to the nervous system, and I am satisfied that 
I can cure every case of dipsomania if the patient will but take the first 
dose of my remedy. The effect of cinchona rubra is a cumulative one, 
and its action is to destroy the power of this yellow ferment.” 
The facts in pathology are as follows: The pathological 
changes within the brain have not been well determined—the 
post-mortem appearance never revealing a constant deposit. 
The mode in which a fatal termination arrives, the congested 
blood-vessels, or, perhaps the ruptured artery, and also that 
remarkable tendency to excessive serosity, giving rise to what 
has been called a wet brain,” have been frequently observed. 
Rokitansky, Rindfleisch, Wagner, Green, Delafield, and many 
others, with every facility and appliance, have spent years in the 
careful examination of diseased tissue. Some of these observers 
have made 30,000 autopsies, and have examined the brain with 
instruments of the highest magnifying power in the posses- 
sion of the most experienced microscopists in the world, and 
yet no constant and undeviating change has ever been found. 
In acute alcoholic poisoning where death takes place within from 
thirty minutes to several hours, there is frequently no change whatever in brain tissue. We find congestion of various organs 
and perhaps extravasations of blood in the brain and its mem- 
branes, but no change in nerve structure. Chronic alcoholic 
poisoning is however of a different nature. But even in this 
condition the patient may die of some other disease, or after a 
life-time of alcoholic excess die exhausted and comatose, and 
have in his brain and nervous system no change appreciable to 
the eye or microscope. A gentleman formerly under my care, 
and who was addicted not only to the alcohol but to the opium 
and chloral habit, fell dead on one of the streets of our city. 
The autopsy revealed the clot emptied from a ruptured blood- 
vessel but a minute microscopical examination showed no change 
or deposit in nerve cell. In other cases, however, we have found 
evidence of inflammation and hardening, particularly in what 
the eminent pathologist Virchow calls ‘neuro-glia ’ (nerve cement) 
a kind of brain connective tissue. But it is not constant, and 
may be found in the brain of those not addicted to alcoholics. 
Much has been published by this author to show that our knowl- 
edge of cinchona and its preparations has been greatly increased 
through his labors, but 1 am not aware that a single fact unknown 
to the profession, in regard to the therapeutical effect of this drug, 
has, up to this time, been advanced in any of his papers. The 
history of the drug is given in every work on Materia Medica, 
and its anti-periodic and tonic properties fully appreciated by all 
medical men of experience. That the red bark is as difficult to 
obtain as has been represented, and that the average pharmacist 
is so ignorant or dishonest as to make it impossible for the ordi- 
nary practitioner to obtain any of the cinchona preparations he 
may desire, I am not ready to believe. Indeed, all the statements 
made in regard to the scarcity of this drug, and in regard to a 
peculiar mode of manufacture, as well as its cumulative action, 
have been so put forward by the so called discoverer as to dis- 
courage any investigation on the part of the medical profession. 
We have but few, if any, specifics, and medical men look with 
distrust and usually refuse to support any scheme peculiar to, and 
in the interest of any discoverer, or any theory based upon false, 
erroneous and antiquated hypotheses. The profession, however, 
is so ready for any scheme or plan, or medicine which will in any 8 
measure stop the increase of drunkenness, that notwithstanding 
the erroneous views promulgated at the outset by Dr. D’Unger, 
if experience has demonstrated that the drug can in any consider- 
able degree do what he claimed for it, I have no doubt that 
full credit will be given to the doctor for his discovery, and its 
use very generally recommended by the majority of medical men. 
The profession demanded, however, a patient trial at the bed-side 
before deciding upon the merits of the preparation. At the end 
of one year, during which 1 have had the opportunity of observ- 
ing the effect of the medicine in more than fifty cases, and also 
having had three analyses made by competent chemists, it appears 
proper that 1 should make known to the profession, and to many 
non-professional inquirers, anxious and interested however, the 
results of this new treatment. 
The medicine is dispensed in small flasks and is seen to be a 
reddish muddy mixture having a distinct bitter taste and resembling 
in both taste and appearance a mixture of one part of common 
tr. cinchona: co. with three parts of water. Sometimes I have 
seen a darker preparation, especially in the hands of an older 
drunkard, which is evidently a near approach to a fluid ext. of 
cinchona. This was true of a specimen analyzed by Prof. Haines 
to which 1 shall again refer. The original preparation of bark is 
manufactured, or was during the early part of the year, by Messrs. 
Gale and Blocki. The concentrating process is known to the 
discoverer only. The preparation from Messrs. Gale and Blocki is, 
of course, an excellent one, a clear, dark colored fluid extract; 
the concentrated tincture, “ six concentrations, to physicians 
$10.00 per pint" prepared only by the discoverer, is a muddy 
mixture which alcohol will dissolve, showing that the concen- 
trating process is performed by the addition of Lake Michigan 
water. 
This expensive (?) mixture, some specimens of which contain 
as small quantity of bitter principle as one grain to the teaspoon- 
ful of water and alcohol is dispensed at from $5.00 to $10.00 per 
pint, with the following explicit 
Directions for using Dr. D’Unger’s Pure Cinchona Rubra.— 
The dose is a teaspoonful (shake the bottle well before each dose) once 
every three hours, the first dose always to betaken in the morning, before 9 
anything is eaten or drank. But if this dose of a teaspoonful causes any 
fullness or pain in the head, or any buzzing or ringing in the ears, the next 
dose must be a little less, say live drops; and so on, whenever there is any 
annoyance in the head, the dose must be made a little less. 
Ahvays remember, the dose must never be more than a teaspoonful, nor 
oftener than once every three hours. But if there is any desire for a drink 
of any kind of liquor between the doses, the party must moisten his or her 
mouth with a few drops of the tineture, but none of it (the tincture) must 
be swallowed except at the regular dose time. 
There is no danger in using this remedy, but it must De taken as directed 
to insure success. 
It is to be given only when the party is awake. 
R. D’Unger, m.d., Discoverer, 
Chicago, Illinois, U. S. A. 
The following is a correct copy of a contract given to one of 
Dr. D’Unger’s patients. The original is in nay posession : 
Received of fifteen dollars, three-fifths of twenty-five dollars 
to be paid me for curing Mr. of dipsomania, the understanding being 
that if, at the end of ninety days, the said party is not cured, I am to return 
the fifteen dollars now received, and in case he is cured, the said Mr 
to pay me the remaining f 10, I to furnish all medicine required. 
R. D’Unger, m.d. 
And now what are the results? Exactly what one would expect 
after administering whisky and water with a small quantity of 
some bitter principle. I do not say that not a single person to 
whom this drug has been administered has stopped the use of 
liquors; but I do say that not one with whom I have come in 
contact has, and in many cases its use has rekindled an old desire 
which by resolution and education had been nearly conquered, 
f do not say that in every case following the administration of 
this nostrum, injury to the patient has come; but I do say that 
in every case which has fallen under my observation, this has 
been the result. 
But what do the victims say. Results : CURES : this is what 
the people demand. 44 The proof of the pudding is in the eating.” 
And so we come to the actual results. A mother writing in regard 
to her son, says : 
Dr. Earle, Chicago, Sir:—You request to know how the cinchona 
rubra acted in case. He is not able to answer, so I will write for 
him. 
I think he knows very little about it, although he has taken the medi- 
cine, and thinks he has derived “ no benefit from it.” He came home sick 
with delirium. 10 
Mr. , a cutter by occupation, makes the following 
statement: 
I purchased a bottle of Dr. D’Unger’s medicine, for which 1 paid him 
$5. He administered a dose to me before I left his office. The following 
night I felt the need of my usual stimulant, and drank the entire bottle of 
cinchona rubra. It seemed to do me the good that whisky usually did. 
Dr. Earle—Dear Sir: Having heard that you wished me to give you 
my experience with the use of D’Unger’s preventative and sure cure for 
drunkenness—cinchona rubra—it gives me great pleasure to furnish you 
with the following “bona fide” account of the effect it had on me: 
In the first place, I wish to state that I acquired an appetite for whisky 
at an early age, having drank it more or less every day for the past sixteen 
years, and only abstaining from it when my money gave out, or when my 
credit was exhausted. 
One afternoon (now about nine months ago) I met an old acquaintance 
—a thorough drunkard—J C , on the corner of Madison and Clark 
streets, in this city, both of us being without money, and with no earthly 
chance of getting a drink. He said to me: “Dave, I have a new scheme. 
I will go and see my old friend, Joe Medill (proprietor of the Tribune), he 
will give us a note to Dr. D’Unger, which will get us a bottle of his medi- 
cine, and that will cure us of drinking. 1 know several it has cured.” He 
got the note, went to Dr. D’Unger’s office, and received the medicine, with 
instructions as to how we should take it, with the assurance from him (Dr. 
D’Unger) that it would take away and destroy altogether the appetite for 
intoxicating drinks of every description. “I have cured,” he said, “ thou- 
sands of drunkards who were a great deal worse cases than you are.” 
Well, John and myself took a walk by the lake front, for we had no home 
or boarding-house where we could go and take our medicine. After we had 
taken two or three doses, John me how I felt, and I told him it was 
burning the throat and stomach out of me. And in response to the same 
question from me, he said he thought it was making him. drunk. Well, 
sir, instead of it destroying my appetite for drink, as D’Unger said it 
would, it certainly increased my appetite, for I imagined I would never get 
back from the lake-front to some of the hell holes I was in the habit of fre- 
quenting to get a drink of beer or whisky: and the next morning after tak- 
ing D’Unger’s cinchona, I found myself in a rum-hole on Dearborn street, 
rolling on the floor, covered with sawdust, with no hat, and without any 
shoes, both being stolen while I lay there beastly drunk. This is the cure 
and the effect that Dr. D’Unger’s medicine produced on me. 
I am now seven months old as a sober man in the Washingtonian 
Home, and 1 am happy to say that I am redeemed from drunkenness, The 
only cure that there is in this world, in my opinion, for a drunkard, is to 
abstain from all intoxicating drinks of every description, and if any man 
wants to become a sober and reformed man, no matter how great or 
degraded a drunkard he may have been, the Washingtonian Home is the 
place for him, for here he receives a moral, sober and religious education. 
I am, sir, yours respectfully, D. B. Whelan. 11 
The following statement is made by the son of a State official 
in regard to the purchase of the medicine for a friend in a dis- 
tant city, and its results: 
I paid $10 for the first bottle, $10 for the second, $7.50 for the third, and 
the same for the fourth. My friend’s appetite and inclinations are exactly 
the same as before taking the four bottles of medicine. 
Mr. , a business man of the city, and the one who 
kindly furnished me his original contract from Dr. D’Unger, 
gives his experience as follows: 
Consulted the doctor in April; was guaranteed a cure, and took a bottle 
of medicine. Have taken at least one-half dozen bottles since, and my 
appetite for whisky is the same as before I commenced, although the medi- 
cine was taken regularly according to directions. 
Still another: 
I have taken three bottles without deriving any benefit whatever, and 
upon ordering the fourth, requested the doctor to make it “ double strengtli.” 
This did me no good, and my appetite is the same as ever. 
Dr. C. W. Earle—Dear Sir: In trying to cure my appetite or desire for 
alcohol in all its forms, I was induced to consult Dr. D’Unger, and while 
under his treatment used two bottles of his cinchona. The only effect it 
had on me was an appetizer, and in fact I really believe my desire was 
stronger for alcoholic stimulants after using it. I gave it a fair trial—drank 
no liquor of any kind w'hile using it—and in all candor must say it had no 
beneficial effect in my case. It may have proved a benefit in other cases— 
I only speak for myself. Respectfully, 
Chicago, June 12, 1879. 
Dr. Earle—Dear Sir: This morning I made a statement to you regard- 
ing the effects of the use of cinchona rubra upon my nervous system, but 
did not state fully how I was induced to take it. The facts are these, viz: 
Several gentlemen of my acquaintance who had been in the habit of drink- 
ing to excess, recommended it to me, and stated that since they had used 
it, they had no desire or appetite whatever for alcoholic drinks. This was 
also supported by Dr. D’Unger’s statement that about three thousand per- 
sons who had been cured by his treatment of cinchona rubra, but since my 
sad experience lately in whisky drinking, I know of at least one of the 
gentlemen who recommended it to me who has returned to whisky, and so 
far as I know is drunk to-day. It may suit some temperaments, hut certainly 
did him no good, and my late conduct proves it has done me none. 
Respectfully, 
Chicago, February 18, 1879. 
Dr. Earle—Dear Sir: About a month ago I was feeling very nervous, 
and I thought it would be a good plan to try Dr. D’Unger’s medicine. Ac- 
cordingly I called on him, at his rooms in the Palmer House, and told him 
my condition—that the least little thing would frighten me. He told me the 12 
trouble was in the nerve center, and that no doubt his medicine would give 
me great relief. I told him that my financial condition was in a dilapidated 
condition, and that I could not afford to pay him $25 for his medicinfc. He 
asked me if I could raise $5, which I paid him and took a half-pint bottle 
of his remedy. I took it according to directions, and by the time I had 
finished the bottle I was in such a nervous condition that I had to stop work. 
It seemed to make me more nervous than I was before I commenced taking 
it. When the Doctor sold me the medicine for $5 he seemed to be doing an 
act of charity, as he assured me that each bottle cost him $7.50. I feel now 
that I made him a present of the money, and I have no hesitation in pro- 
nouncing him a first-class fraud, and a quack. His medicine is nothing 
more than a tonic, and I have often bought better ones for twenty-five cents. 
Respectfully, 
P. S.—Had not the Tribune backed this man up I never would have called 
on him at all. 
Chicago, June 13, 1879. 
I)r. Earle—Dear Sir: You will here find my limited experience in the 
use of Dr. D’Unger’s cinchona cure. I commenced taking it about three 
months ago, and at first it made my head feel very badly, about the same 
as an over-dose of quinine would; making my head feel enlarged, and 
causing my ears to ring. Immediately after taking it I would feel also in- 
clined to take a drink to relieve the feeling. It had the same effect that a 
drink of whisky would have—that is a desire to follow it with another drink. 
I complained of this to my wife, but she thought it only an excuse on my 
part to get rid of taking the medicine, and she concluded she would try it, 
but with the same result, excepting she did not desire to drink after it. 
I then made up my mind that there was alcohol in it. I poured some of 
it in a dish, then set fire to it, and found it to burn as freely as any spirit. I 
am fully satisfied it could never cure me from drinking, and, as far as I am 
personally concerned, I consider it an unmitigated humbug, and will have 
none of it. I prefer the Washingtonian Home. I have part of a bottle 
left, which is at the disposal of any unfortunate who may wish to try it, and 
not be obliged to pay the exhorbitant $15 for a pint of his “ infallible cure.” 
After my wife trying it and experiencing the fueling which she did, she 
was perfectly willing for me to discontinue its use. 
You are at liberty to use this as you may choose. 
RESULTS FROM ABROAD. 
Dr. C. W. Earle—Dear Sir: In response to your request, I will state 
that I have been a resident of Minneapolis until recently; that I am 
acquainted with Dr. D’Unger, both personally and by reputation; that I 
was Grand Worthy Chief Templar of the Order of Good Templars for two 
years; that during said time 1 was aware that Dr. D’Unger claimed a sov- 
ereign cure for intemperance (through the newspapers) in cinchona rubra, 
but with the fact in view that I was gathering all the facts possible for my 
temperance work, I have never known of one single authentic instance, 
where cinchona effected a permanent cure. Respectfully, 
A. M. Hutchinson. 13 
Minneapolis, Minn., Jan. 9,1679. 
Chas. W. Eakle—Dear Doctor: I have delayed answering yours of the 
3d inst., that I might see other physicians concerning the D’Unger treatment. 
[ can only hear of two cases that have been treated here. One with no 
benefit and the other (colored) seemingly improved. Should I hear any- 
thing that would be of use to you, will be glad to send the information. 
Yours very truly, F. A. Dunsmore, m.d. 
Minneapolis, Minn., Dec. 28, 1879 
C. W. Earle, m.d.—Dear Doctor: Yours of the 20th inst. is now' before 
me and since its reception I have had opportunity of asking a number of 
our best physicians for their results with D’Unger’s cure by cinchona bark. 
No one reports success but majority have not made experiment, their 
excuse being their knowledge of the doctor. I have prescribed but w'ith no 
knowlege of result, which T would certainly have received had there been 
any success. Very truly yours, F. A. Dunsmore, m.d. 
C. W. Eari.e—Dear Sir: In reply to your inquiry concerning Dr. 
D’Unger and his pretended cure for drunkenness, permit me to say that I 
am nowr and have been for several years a resident of Minneapolis: that I 
am personally and well acquainted w ith Dr. D’Unger, and w hile I have been 
constantly engaged in the temperance work in that city, I do not know' of 
one individual, nor have I heard of one who was cured, or who claimed to 
have been cured through the instrumentality of cinchona rubra. I once 
induced a man, who had been a hard drinker, to partake of the cinchona 
rubra, with a view of testing its merits, but the result was very unsatisfac- 
tory, the partaker complaining of an almost insatiable thirst for drink for 
several hours after taking the medicine. Very truly yours, 
J. C. Erwin, 
Grand Sec’y Good Templars, Minn. 
Dr. 11. J. Patterson, formerly Professor of Medical jurispru- 
dence, Chicago Medical College, and at present the proprietor 
and superintendent of Bellevue Place, a private institute for the 
treatment and cure of insane females, Batavia, 111., furnishes me 
the history of a case which illustrates not only the usual (as far 
as I can learn) result, but the cost of making the trial: 
A lady, the wife of an eminently respectable business gentleman, resi- 
ding in a neighboring city, had become addicted to alcoholics—she was 
possibly a victim to the morphine habit—and had been committed to an 
asylum in the city several times but to no purpose. She seemed incurable. 
At last she came to Chicago, and was guaranteed a cure by Dr. D’Unger. 
One hundred dollars was paid for the guaranteed cure. While she was 
taking the medicine and under observation, it seemed to be all the stimu- 
lant necessary, but a few days after her return home she was again under the 
influence of alcoholics, and had recently been an inmate of Dr. Patter- 
son’s retreat. 14 
RESFLTS AT THE NATIONAL HOME FOR DISABLED SOLDIERS. 
A short time after I published my card in the Tribune, the- 
following was displayed as an advertisement: 
Drunkenness Cured—Facts vs. Folly.—“National Home for 
Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, Dayton, O., Jan. (i, 1879.—Dr. D'lTnget", 
Chicago: After a fair trial of three months in two cases, seemingly incur- 
able, I am glad to say that the result has been all that you could claim and 
all the most sanguine could hope for. Respectfully, E. F. Brown, 
(governor.” 
A few days since I addressed a letter to Col. Brown, asking 
him if. after a continued trial of the remedy, he could still 
recommend it. His answer is probably explicit enough for even 
the discoverer of the so-cailed specific for drunkenness : 
Dayton, Ohio, Dec. 12, 1879. 
Dr. Chas. W. Earle, 87 Park ave., Chicago, 111.—Dear Fir: Your 
favor of yesterday is received, and contents noted. I gave the cinchona a 
fair trial, and found it not better than any other advertised nostrum for the 
cure of intemperance. But it is proper to say I was not more sanguine of 
success when I wrote Dr. D’Unger in regard to the purchase of a quantity 
of the remedy than the facts seemed to warrant. He claimed for it that 
after three months’ use the desire for all stimulants would pass away, and 
a cure be wrought, and in the two instances to which, doubtless, you refer, 
the men did keep sober that long. Thus far the remedy, or the men’s reso- 
lution—it is hard to tell which—was efficacious, and thus far only was 1 
sanguine. I do not hesitate now now to pronounce it a humbug. 
Very respectfully yours, E. F. Brown, Governor. 
Although the uniformity of these results may be somewhat 
monotonous and lengthy, and the reader may long for the record 
of at least one reformation, it is impossible for us to give it. 
But as no record of so-called cures would be at all complete with- 
out slight reference to the published cures from among the 
inmates of the Washingtonian Home, I must be pardoned for 
giving the completed history of those four remarkable (?) cures, 
already referred to in the opening page of this paper and found 
at page fifteen in the doctor’s treatise on dipsomania. 
He says: “at the Chicago Washingtonian Home, four of the 
patients of the worst description * * * have been completely 
cured by the use of my cinchona rubra. These patients can be 
seen personally by parties interested.” The only truth in the 
entire sentence is that they can be seen. I have seen them ; all 
are or have been drunk. The history of case No. I. has been. 15 
partly given in one of the letters which appear above. A few 
days ago a commercial traveler called at the young gentleman’s 
residence, in the central part of our State, and found that the- 
day before, the young man while under the effect of liquor had 
demanded money of his father, and on being refused, the- 
reformed man (?) “who may be seen by parties interested.” 
proceeded to chastise his paternal relative with an ax handle. 
Case II. Was a Southern gentleman of position and educa- 
tion. He has made repeated efforts at reformation, but to no- 
effect. At last a prominent business gentleman of this city 
became interested in him and at the commencement of the cin- 
chona craze paid $25.00 for the reformation of the case we are 
considering. The patient professed to be greatly invigorated by 
the use of the medicine, and believed now his reformation com- 
plete. While this gentleman was taking the cinchona of Dr. 
D’Unger I asked him to compare it with an aqueous fluid extract 
of red bark made by Sargent & Co., of this city for my use. 
The preparation which this firm had made for me contained one 
pound of bark to the pint, and was absolutely free from alcohol. 
It was an exceedingly strong preparation, and would do for a 
patient all that Peruvian bark is capable of doing. He tasted 
this aqueous ext., and immediately said to me, “you haven’t got 
it. It’s not the thing.’’ I had given him a dose of cinchona 
containing at least twenty times as much of the alkaloid as he- 
was taking in the D’Unger preparation, but “it wasn’t the 
thing.” It did not contain from two to twenty-four per cent, of 
alcohol, which our reformer’s tincture does, and hence these 
tears. After taking several bottles of this nostrum this gentle- 
man engaged in business as a commercial traveler, I think, but 
soon returned to the city drunk, lie entered Mercy hospital for 
a time but after leaving that institution again relapsed, and was 
reduced to a very pitiable condition. Upon my personal solici- 
tation he was again admitted to the Home, and after a season 
resumed business. He is now in a distant State, and his future 
as regards drinking, is exactly what he makes it. He is a strong, 
robust man and can abstain from drink if he wills. 
Case III. Is a newspaper man, an editorial writer, one of those- 
men who can paint with words ; a most able, accomplished and affable gentleman. He took the D’Unger mixture to remove the 
appetite. While taking it he was engaged in business, and at 
length determined to visit the East, his former home. He 
returned to this city drunk, his money squandered, his family 
discouraged. Repeated efforts were made by several to even sober 
him up without admitting him to the Washingtonian Home, but 
without success; and notwithstanding a large amount of abuse 
had been directed to the Home and its physician, and encomiums 
and peans of praise showered down on “ the greatest benefactor of 
his race,” as the discoverer of this cure has been called ; notwith- 
standing all this, the man was again admitted and has again gone 
cut and is at his accustomed work. 
Case IV. This man was the last one to hear from—the only 
one in the list in whom “ the greatest discovery of the age ” had 
not been demonstrated a failure. Three weeks ago his wife came 
to the institution referred to above and stated that he tvas drink- 
ing, and his position lost. He is now in the Home, where, to use 
the words of my friend D’Unger, “he may be seen by parties 
interested.” 
FROM THE MEDICAL JOURNALS. 
The Edinburgh (Scotland) Medical Journal says of the cin- 
chona, or Peruvian bark, remedy for drunkenness : 
“ Having been pressed by the friends of an unfortunate drunkard to try 
this new remedy, we administered it exactly as directed. We found the red 
bark a good tonic—this and nothing more. Our patient visited us some 
time after his convalescence, with a powerful odor of alcohol about him, 
and we ascertained from his distressed friends that he is pretty much what 
he was. We are inclined to think the whole thing another American 
dodge—and a very clever one. The moral is a sad one.” 
I beg leave to sav to the editor of this journal that although 
this is an “ American dodge, the medical profession is not respon- 
sible for it. The author of this humbug is not accredited by any 
medical society or association in our broad land. 
The Medical and Surgical Reporter, of October 18th, says: 
“We duly noted this vaunted cure on its announcement; we now chron- 
icle its worthlessness. Dr. A. I*. Hayne, superintendent of the Home of the 
Inebriates, San Francisco, writes thus of it, after full trial, in the Western 
Lanret: 
“ In no single instance have 1 found it to possess the slightest power in 
disgusting the patient with liquor or in any way diminishing his or her 17 
appetite or craving for intoxicating drinks. On the contrary, they have all 
freely confessed to me that the anticipation and the pleasure of a drink was 
as strong as ever, In no case have I seen whisky refused when offered 
and in the ma jority it has been asked for. I know of an instance, in private 
practice, in which a person has stayed at home and taken the remedy all 
day, for several days in succession, and gone out in the evening only to lie 
brought home thoroughly intoxicated. 
Dk. Earle—My Dear Doctor: The following is the result of the exami- 
nation of the two specimens you left at the college: 
The darkest colored liquid in the salt-mouth bottle contained of 
Alcohol 16 percent. 
Water 85.19 per cent. 
Total solid matter about six grains. 
The liquid in the s cond bottle contained of 
Alcohol 2.7 percent. 
Water 98. per cent. 
Total solid matter about four grains. 
The percentage is by volume, and as water and alcohol mixed, contracts 
in volume the apparent discrepancy in the figures is explained. 
The precipitates found in each specimen were, undoubtedly, caused by 
the addition of water to an alcoholic tincture as they were soluble in alcohol. 
The amount of solid matter was so small that I did not attempt to ascer- 
tain the alkaloids present. Yours truly, 
P. S. Hayes, 
Prof. Chemistry, Woman’s Medical College. 
Chicago, Dec. 22,1879. 
Prop. C. W. Earle, m.d.—Dear Sir: The sample of Dr. D’Unger’s 
cinchona rubra preparation, which you placed in my hands tor examination 
has been analyzed, and found to contain twenty-four per cent, of absolute 
alcohol. Yours truly, Walter S. Haines', m.d., 
Prof, of Chemistry and Toxicology, 
Rush Medical College. 
So much then for a specific which is persistently advertised as 
curing every cane of drunkenness. The scheme is an exceed- 
ingly ingenious one. The patient, supposing he is supplied with 
a wonderfully powerful drug, possessing great tonic and anti- 
periodic properties, is really given an amount of alcohol varying 
from two to twenty-four per cent., the remainder of the nostrum 
being water. In this we have a very small amount of a bitter 
principle, presumably Peruvian bark. The first dose is always 
to be taken in the morning, before anything is eaten or drank—- 
see printed instructions. This first dose of alcohol and water, 
ANALYSIS. 18 
with a little bitter, before anything is eaten or drank, supplies the 
usual first drink which is so urgently demanded by one addicted 
to alcoholics. Then a teaspoonful every three hours, and if there 
is a desire for a drink of any kind of liquor between the doses, 
the party must moisten his or her mouth with a few drops of the 
tincture—twenty-four per cent, alcohol. Now, it is a well known 
fact that a man who has once acquired a taste for alcoholics, but 
bv resolution and education of his moral sense has been enabled 
to reform, can not. with safety, taste a drop of any kind of liquor. 
In many of these cases a desire for liquor remains, and with the 
hope that this longing may be destroyed, many have been induced 
to take this prescription, and in every ease, as far as my observa- 
tion extends, they have again fallen. But I cannot prolong my 
paper. Much remains which might be said. Every man, with 
•one exception, as far as I can learn (if I am mistaken I shall be 
glad to be corrected), Avhose reformation was published in the 
Tribune, is or has been drinking. I saw one in the County Hos- 
pital a fewr days since : he remained sober for three months, while 
taking the cure, and then drank ordinary whisky for nine months; 
and yet this man assured me that he was reformed ; he had no 
taste for liquor, and yet he had been under its influence for nine 
months. Another man who formerly drank very largely of beer 
and who was occasionally unkind to his family, after a course of 
D'Unger tincture, had selected whisky as his beverage. He drank 
less wdiisky than beer, but beat his wife more. It would seem 
from this that beer is the better family drink. Others are taking 
the Peruvian tincture during the forenoon while business is active, 
changing to a different liquor after business hours. 
Before concluding it is perhaps proper for me to say that I 
understand well that an expose of this humbug may be followed 
by a deluge of abuse and criticisms, which is not particularly 
pleasant. If, however, friends will bear in mind that every letter 
-of abuse which has, up to this time, appeared, has come directly or 
indirectly from those who have been discharged, or have had 
friends discharged, from the Washingtonian Home, either on ac- 
count of violation of some rule of discipline, or because they were 
not proper persons for us to retain, the animus of these letters 
will be seen. The committee on admission and discharge in that 19 
institution cannot, and does not, expect to do its full duty without 
some very severe criticism . 
CONCLUSIONS 
1. A chemical examination of the D’Unger preparation of 
so-called concentrated cinchona rubra shows it to be a diluted 
mixture of fluid extract of cinchona with water. 
2. The amount of absolute alcohol is from two to twenty-four 
per cent. 
3. The amount of bitter principle is as small, in some speci- 
mens as one grain to the drachm. 
4. Engaged in a hospital practice where I have prescribed for 
nearly four hundred cases of alcoholism during the year, in addi- 
tion to a private practice in which I see, perhaps, as many of 
these cases as the average physician, I have yet to see the first 
reformation from its use. 
5. In not a single case has the use of this preparation dis- 
gusted the patient with the taste of alcohol. 
6. The taste for stimulants in many cases remains long after 
a reformation is complete. Indeed, it is never lost in some, and 
a constant fight goes on between a desire for some form of stimu- 
lants and duty made plain by the education of the moral sense, 
to abstain from them. Numbers of these men, encouraged by 
the repeated assertion that this taste could be certainly and safely 
destroyed, have taken this medicine. In every ease it has been 
the direct and only cause of these patients returning to their for- 
mer sad and terrible habits. It has caused the downfall of every 
one who has come under my observation belonging to this class 
who has dared to touch it. 
7. From a careful investigation of all the facts in my poses- 
sion, I desire to place on record that it is my belief that this cin- 
chona treatment has made more drunkards during the past year 
in this city than any one saloon. IV I 1 ■ i A 1 11 1 WE are glad to receive contributions from 
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