THE IMPORTANCE OF PHYSIOLOGICAL ASSAY IN THE 

 STANDARDIZATION OF SOME DRUGS. 



By Adolph Ziefle, University of Kansas, Lawrence. 



''T^HE main factors which have been responsible for the increas- 

 -^ ing interest and change of attitude shown in problems con- 

 nected with the use of drugs in the treatment of disease, and 

 especially in their standardization, are mainly these: The first was 

 the appearance of the new Pharmacopa3ia, causing as it did many 

 discussions in regard to the admission of new remedies and a change 

 in the standard of some of the older preparations. The second was 

 the establishing of the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry, which 

 exposed false claims of many "quack" remedies by showing that 

 they were entirely without value as remedies for the ailments for 

 which they were so highly recommended. This council also in- 

 vestigated the condition of many official preparations, and showed 

 that many of them were far from being up to standard. The third 

 factor, and by far the most important, was the establishing of drug 

 laboratories for the state and national pure food and drugs law. 

 These laboratories have submitted to them for analysis every known 

 form of remedies for the treatment of disease. Very frequently 

 chemists are unable to give conclusive information about certain 

 remedies because of the lack of the necessary equipment for physi- 

 ological examinations. 



The uniformity in strength of any drug is one of the first essen- 

 tials. Its preparation shall also possess physiological qualities to 

 a uniform degree — in other words, should be of a uniform standard. 



The recent Pharmacopoeia has made greater advances in stand- 

 ardization than any previous one, in that it requires in many more 

 instances than formerly that the drug shall be standardized so as 

 to contain a certain fixed percentage of its active principle, thus 

 assuring the physician a more definite and reliable preparation. 



Probably the foremost cause of the variation of standards is the 

 fact that the drugs often vary notoriously in content of active prin- 

 ciple. This variation depends upon climatic conditions, different 

 localities, the time of year when drug is collected, and, probably of 

 greatest importance, upon the manner in which the drug is pre- 

 pared for market and the way it is preserved before it is used. 

 This, then, accounts for the varying degree of physiological activity 



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