102 



Scientific Proceedings (105). 



threne, however, is practically insoluble in water and experiments 

 with it had to be made using alcoholic solutions of the drug. An 

 attempt was therefore made to obtain a simple compound of 

 phenanthrene which is soluble and could be more conveniently 

 employed for tests in vitro. Through the kindness of the 

 chemist, Dr. Charles Rouiller, a simple phenanthrene sul- 

 phonic acid was prepared and a sodium salt of the same, being 

 neutral in reaction and freely soluble in water, was employed 

 in making the pharmacological tests. It was found that sodium 

 phenanthrene-sulphonate had very little or no effect on the con- 

 tractions and tonicity of isolated smooth muscle organs. On the 

 other hand, experiments with piperidine hydrochloride revealed at 

 once that piperidine is a powerful stimulant of smooth muscle, 

 causing an increase in the rate and strength of its contractions 

 and an increase in its tonicity. Straub's phenomenon may, 

 therefore, be ascribed to the peripheral effect of the piperidine 

 portion of the morphine molecule: and, indeed, the author has 

 found that when a suitable dose of piperidine hydrochloride is 

 injected into a mouse or a rat, a condition resembling Straub's 

 phenomenon is often produced soon after the injection. 



The interesting effect of piperidine upon smooth muscle, 

 mentioned above, has, as far as the author has been able to as- 

 certain, never been described before. A complete study on the 

 action of piperidine on plain muscle is at present the subject of 

 further investigation, and will be published in due time. 



61 (1521) 



The action of prostatic extracts on isolated genito-urinary organs. 



By David I. Macht and S. Matsumoto. 



[From the Pharmacological Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University, 

 and the James Buchanan Brady Urological Institute, Baltimore.] 



The contractions and tonicity of various surviving excised 

 genito-urinary organs were studied in vitro: firstly, under normal 

 conditions, and secondly, after the addition of prostatic extracts 



