29 
injected and the time noted when systolic standstill appeared. Wang, 
in common with some other workers, found it hard to decide at just 
what time this end reaction occurred, and he therefore used the stop- 
page of the circulation as an end reaction. His results, using Focke’s 
formula to give the toxic worth of the leaves, are very variable. In 
some of the tables, especially Table I, in which, in sixteen estima- 
tions of one preparation, he obtained values between 3.6 and 8.8, with 
an average of 5.2. The other tables are not nearly so irregular in 
their results, since in these he calculated his dose according to the body 
weight of the animal employed. Table III, for instance, only shows 
slight variations from 4.7 to 5.7, with an average worth for the 
specimen of 5.3. 
Lowy a carried out experiments with infusions of digitalis to deter- 
mine the effect of hydrochloric acid and pepsin, in the per cents in 
which they occur in the stomach, upon their action. He used 20-gram 
frogs (Rena temporaria), exposing the heart and after injecting 1 c. c. 
of the solution to be tested, noted the time of the appearance of 
systolic standstill. 
Kochman 6 showed that five infusions of digitalis made from leaves 
obtained from different sources possessed different actions upon the 
blood pressure of dogs, only two of them producing the true digitalis 
effect of increased blood pressure and lessened pulse rate. 
In a research to determine the uniformity of the preparations of 
digitalis and strophanthus which were upon the market Edmunds 0 
examined seventeen preparations of the tinctures of digitalis and six 
of strophanthus. Although many of these were said to be physio- 
logically standardized they showed great variation, two preparations 
(standardized) from one manufacturer having toxicities in the ratio 
of 1 to 2. Four nonstandardized preparations from one manufac- 
turer varied as 1 to 4. 
The method employed to standardize the drugs was the same as 
has been used in the pharmacological laboratory of the University of 
Michigan for a number of years and is essentially the same as that 
employed by F amulener and Lyons , d the only difference being that as 
an end reaction complete systolic stoppage of the heart is used, not 
only of the ventricle, as in the Famulener and Lyons method, but also 
of the auricles. 
In his comparison of various tinctures of strophanthus which were 
on the market Hatcher 0 adopted Frankel’s method of examination; 
that is, the amount necessary to produce systolic standstill of the 
frog’s heart in about one hour, comparing the doses when calculated 
°Lowy, Wien klin. Wchnschr., 1906, XIX, 1157. 
b Kochman, Bull. Soc. de Med. de Gand., 1906, LXXIII, 95. 
cEdmunds, J. A. M. A., 1907, XLVIII, 1744. 
^ Famulener and Lyons, Proc. Am. Pharm. Ass., 1902, L, 415. 
e Hatcher, J. A. M. A., 1907, XLVIII, 1177. 
