50 The Philippine Journal of Science ms 



in the urine, four dogs were given hypodermic injections of a 1 

 per cent solution of emetine hydrochloride crystals (Paul-Merch) . 

 Baermann and Heinemann(i) consider that about 4 milligrams 

 per kilogram of body weight are the maximal intravenous dose 

 for man. We gave our dogs 1 milligram per kilogram of body 

 weight. This dose corresponds to 65 milligrams or 1 grain for 

 an adult weighing 65 kilograms; it is, according to Vedder(7) 

 and others, usually sufficient to destroy the amosbas in the in- 

 testine of a dysenteric patient. The injection was repeated once 

 daily until the animals died. 



Emetine caused vomiting, a rise of temperature, and hemor- 

 rhagic diarrhoea. One dog survived six injections; two dogs, 

 seven; and one dog, eleven. Post-mortem examination revealed 

 congestion of the internal organs, skin, and subcutaneous tissue ; 

 hemorrhages in the intestine; and in two dogs, ecchymoses at 

 the sites of injection. Table I gives the results of daily exam- 

 inations of the urine of four emetinized dogs. 



The examination of the urine, as shown in the table, does not 

 give conclusive evidence that emetine has induced inflammation 

 of the kidneys. The appearance of albumin in the urine of dog 

 1 on the second day of emetine injection and in the urine of 

 dog 3 on the fifth injection cannot be due to inflammatory 

 changes; otherwise it should have appeared on the succeeding 

 days and its quantity should have been increased by the subse- 

 quent injections of emetine. We cannot explain the significance 

 of the short hyaline casts that appeared in the urine of dogs 

 1, 2, and 3. We also observed them in the urine of three saline 

 controls. However, the fact that their appearance was not ac- 

 companied by albumin except in one instance (that is, on the 

 fifth injection in dog 3) diminishes their importance as a sign 

 of inflammatory lesion of the kidneys. This is confirmed by the 

 examination of the sections of the kidneys. When examined 

 histologically, the kidneys of dog 1 showed very slight acute pa- 

 renchymatous degeneration; the kidneys of dog 2 showed con- 

 gestion and its results, hemorrhages between the layers of the 

 capsules, and slight if any degeneration of the tubular epithe- 

 lium ; the kidneys of dog 3, congestion and slight degeneration of 

 the tubular epithelium only; and the kidneys of dog 4, very 

 little recognizable pathological change on account of extensive 

 post-mortem alteration. The absence of inflammation that 

 emetine readily induces in the eye, respiratory passages, ali- 

 mentary canal, and subcutaneous tissue indicates that it is not 

 eliminated by the kidneys, or if it is, that it passes through them 

 in very high dilution. 



