28 THE SIMPLER NATURAL BASES 



Burmann [1912] and Heimann [1912] that p-hydroxy-phenyl-ethyl- 

 amine can replace ergot, or even that it is the most important con- 

 stituent of this drug, is erroneous (see especially a paper by 

 Guggenheim [1912]). The action of the base has also been studied 

 lately by Frohlich and Pick [1912], by Handovsky and Pick [1913] 

 and by Bickel and Pawlow [1912]. 



According to Engel [1912] p-hydroxy-phenyl-ethylamine has 

 no necrotising effect on tumours, although this effect is produced by 

 phenyl-ethylamine, which has only one-fifth of the pressor activity of 

 the first-named base. The effect is also shown by hordenine and by 

 adrenaline. 



p-Hydroxyphenyl-ethylamine has a paralytic action on Crustacea 

 and occurs in the salivary gland of Cephalopoda which feed on crabs 

 [Henze, 1913]. 



Hordenine, which is the N-dimethyl-derivative of the last-named 

 base, has a much weaker action, and has been studied by Camus 

 [1906]. The minimal lethal dose of the sulphate is 0-3 grm. per 

 kilo, for dogs, injected intravenously, and 2 grm. per kilo, for guinea- 

 pigs injected subcutaneously, so that the toxicity is very slight. The 

 base has a feeble pressor action. Its methiodide, however, causes a 

 very rapid and evanescent rise of blood pressure in cats, when in- 

 jected intravenously in doses of I mg. The effect superficially 

 resembles that of adrenaline but is in reality of the nicotine type 

 (Barger and Dale [1910, l]). Von Braun and Deutsch [1912] have 

 prepared homologues of hordenine, having the formula 



OH.C 6 H 4 .(CH 2 ) n .N(CH 3 ) 2 



with n = 3, 4 and 5. In these the pressor action of hordenine is 

 diminished. The lethal dose for rabbits is respectively O'l grm., O'OI 

 grm.,0'02 grm., as compared with 0-3 grm. for hordenine. Comp. 

 von Braun, Ber. deutsch. chem. Ges., 1914,47, 492. 



The physiological action of indolethylamine has been studied by 

 Laidlaw [1911]. Doses of 10-20 mg. of the hydrochloride given 

 intravenously to rabbits and cats, produce a transient stimulant effect 

 upon the central nervous system, causing clonic and tonic convulsions, 

 tremors of limbs, and vaso-constriction. In the spinal cat 2 mg. 

 causes a large rise of blood pressure due to vaso-constriction and in- 

 creased cardiac activity. In this respect the amine resembles p-hydroxy- 

 phenyl-ethylamine. Indolethylamine has further a direct stimulant 

 action on plain muscle, which is most marked in the arterioles, the 

 iris, and the uterus. This action of the amine from tryptophane is on 

 the whole much less than that of the amine from histidine. Speaking 



