Aphonia after Quinine Administration

To the Editor, The Indian Medical Gazette. Sir,?In the January 1930 issue of the Gazette Dr. N. S. K. Iyer reports a case of aphonia following quinine administration. Whilst I was in charge of a dispensary at Kalva in the Kurnool district in 1902, there came to me a Mahomedan boy of 8 years old, asking for a dose of purgative. I gave him, I remember, a dose of Pulv. Jalapae Co., according to his age, at about 8 a.m. At noon on the same day his father brought him to me, complaining that the boy could not speak, although he was all right in all other respects. 1 wished to keep the patient under observation until the evening, but, to satisfy the father, I gave him half an ounce of Aqua Chloroformi, with a request that the boy should be brought to the dispensary in the afternoon. When he came, I was glad to note that he was able to talk as usual. Subsequently I was informed by the compounder that the bottle contained plain water instead of Aqua Chloroformi. Therefore a simple purgative can also produce " aphonia."?Yours, etc.,