1 1  o  Standardize! Hon  o f  Preparations.     { A  %J™£t  Sg.rm' 
In  closing,  I  quote,  as  having  some  bearing  on  the  question  of  the 
practical  utility  of  digitoxin,  from  Dixon  {Manual  of  Pharmacology , 
1906,  p.  169)  :  "  The  samples  of  digitoxin  at  present  on  the  market 
vary  in  activity  even  more  than  the  galenical  preparations." 
THE  STANDARDIZATION  OP  PREPARATIONS  OF  DIGI- 
TALIS BY  PHYSIOLOGICAL  AND  CHEMICAL  MEANS. 
I.   BY  PHYSIOLOGICAL  MEANS. 
By  Dr.  E.  D.  Reed. 
The  question  of  the  physiological  standardization  of  drugs  is  one 
that  has  been  attended  by  a  great  deal  of  interest  both  by  pharma- 
ceutical chemists  and  physicians.  No  one  can  deny  the  desirability 
and  the  value  of  knowing  the  exact  physiological  activity  of  any 
preparation  to  be  used  as  a  medicine.  However,  the  methods  com- 
monly employed  for  physiological  testing  are  by  no  means  accepted 
by  everyone  as  correct,  or  as  showing  the  real  activity  of  a  drug. 
Without  doubt,  wherever  a  chemical  assay  is  possible,  it  forms 
the  most  reliable  means  of  anticipating  the  physiological  or  thera- 
peutic activity  of  any  given  preparation.  This,  however,  does  not 
rule  out  the  desirability  of  a  control  test  by  physiological  methods; 
but  whether  or  not  this  should  be  carried  out  in  all  instances  is  a 
question  hard  to  decide. 
Perhaps  no  drug  has  received  a  greater  amount  of  attention  in  an 
effort  to  formulate  a  reliable  method  for  standardization  than  digitalis 
and  other  members  of  the  so-called  digitalis  series. 
It  is  not  necessary  to  consider  the  other  members,  such  as 
strophanthus,  hellebore,  squill,  etc.,  as  digitalis  is  the  most 
important  member  of  this  series.  The  isolation  of  the  active  prin- 
ciples of  digitalis  is  rather  difficult,  and  it  has  been  maintained  by 
a  number  of  very  competent  observers  that  a  chemical  assay  of 
digitalis  and  its  preparations  is  of  little  value  in  estimating  the 
physiological  activity  of  the  drug.  Digitalis  and  the  other  mem- 
bers of  this  family  are  noted  for  their  stimulating  action  upon  the 
heart.  A  great  many  other  properties,  namely  diuretic,  and  action 
on  the  central  nervous  system,  have  been  claimed  for  digitalis,  and 
several  attempts  have  been  made  to  show  that  various  therapeutic 
properties  depended  upon  one  or  the  other  of  the  several  glucosides 
