8 SUPRARENAL GLANDS. 



No one would now think of using any of the aconitins in medicine 

 without first determining their toxicity, whatever the result of the 

 chemical assay. 



Kobert has called attention to this increased importance of the 

 pharmacologist and has claimed that these tests should be an essential 

 for all medico-legal cases, and he has shown that the physiological 

 test may respond where the chemical one is not sufficiently delicate. 



Certain simple physiological tests, such as the dilatation of the pupil 

 with atropin, the production of a tingling sensation in the tongue by 

 aconite, and the correct tasting of preparations, have been recognized 

 by the Pharmacopoeia, and the testing of diphtheria antitoxin has 

 at last obtained recognition. b 



It must be remembered that animals respond differently according 

 to various conditions. Thus Dixon c has cited the influence of cere- 

 bral development in animals as influencing the response to cocain, as 

 follows : 



Dose of co 

 Grams of 

 Animal. 



Gnms f cam per 



Sysasst 



vulsions. 



Rabbit. 



0.18 



Guinea pig ' 7 .07 



Pigeon 8 .06 



Dog 9 .02 



Ape 18 .012 



Various other illustrations could be given, so that the animals in 

 most cases should correspond as nearly as possible in species, sex, age, 

 and weight. 



SUPRARENAL GLANDS. 

 SEPARATION OF THE ACTIVE PRINCIPLE. 



Attention was recently called to the marked blood-pressure-raising 

 properties of the suprarenal glands in the work of Oliver and Schaefer/ 



° Robert, R. Ueber d. Bedeutung d. biologisch. Giftnachweis f. d. gerichtl. Mod. 



Ber. d. Deutsch. Pharm. Gesells., vol. 13, p. 325, 1903. 

 Scholtz, K. Wertbestininiung d. Jequiritols u. d. Jequiritol-Heilserums durch 



Tierexperimente. Arch. f. Augenheilkimde, vol. 55, p. 209, 1906. 

 b Otto, R. Die staatKchePriifungd. Heilsera. Arbeit, a. d. Konigl. Institut f. Exper. 



Therapie z. Frankfurt, 1906. 

 c Dixon. W. E. Bio-chemical standardization of drugs. Pharm. Jour. , vol. 75, p. 156, 



1905. 

 d Oliver, G.. and Schaefer, E. A. Physiological effects of extracts of suprarenal cap- 

 sules. Jour. Physiol., vol. 18, p. 230, 1895. 

 On the physiological action of extract of the suprarenal capsule?. Proc. Physiol. 



Soc, p. i, Jour. Physiol., vol. 16, 1894; Proc. Physiol. Soc, p. ix, Jour. Physiol., 



vol. 17, 1894-95. 



112 



