TWO COMPOUNDS OF EMETINE WHICH MAY BE OF SERVICE 
IN THE TREATMENT OF ENTAMGEBIASIS + 
By A. G. DuMEz 
(From the School of Pharmacy, College of Medicine and Surgery, 
University of the Philippines) 
INTRODUCTORY 
While emetine, per se, has become recognized as a valuable 
remedy in the treatment of entamcebiasis only within the past 
few years, ipecac root, from which emetine is obtained, has 
long been employed in the treatment of this disease by medical 
practitioners. 
The available literature on the subject conveys the information 
that the drug was first brought to the notice of Europeans in 
1590 under the name of “igpecaya” or “‘pigaya”’ by a Portuguese 
friar, who obtained it in Brazil.2 We are further informed, how- 
ever, that it was not effectively introduced to European medicine 
until a century later, 1686, when Jean Adrien Helvetius®* at- 
tained fame through its use in the treatment of dysentery. Sev- 
eral times since then it has fallen into disuse in the management 
of this disease, but has as often been revived, and at present 
its efficacy may be said to be firmly established. However, in 
spite of its established value, there is a marked disadvantage in 
its use which tends to diminish its popularity—that is, its em- 
etic action. Through the combined efforts of the chemist and 
pharmacologist, we are now able to state that this action is due 
to two of its constituents: namely, emetine and cephaéline. 
The chemistry and pharmacology of ipecac root have been 
pretty thoroughly worked out with respect to the constituents 
which might be expected to be physiologically active. The ip- 
ecacuanhic acid of Willigk * was shown by Kimura ° to be neither 
astringent nor antiseptic. The presence of 5 different alkaloids 
*Read at the annual meeting of the Philippine Islands Medical Associa- 
tion, Manila, November 4—7, 1914. 
*Purchas, His Pilgrimes. London (1625), 4, 1811. 
* Wootton, Chronicles of Pharmacy. Macmillan & Co., London (1910), 
SAY 
*Ipecacuanhic acid was first isolated by Willigk in 1850. Journ. jf. prakt. 
Chem. (1850), 51, 424. 
*Arch. internat. de Pharm. et Tox. (1908), 405. 
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