364 
Standardization  of  Drugs. 
J  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\     August,  1910. 
like  digitalis  when  injected  in  this  way,  since  it  consists  largely 
of  digitonin  which  causes  a  sharp  fall  in  the  blood-pressure  when 
injected  into  the  vein.  We  examined  digitonin  and  sparteine  also, 
neither  of  them  giving  the  digitalis  action.  Strychnine  gave  fairly 
uniform  results,  but  the  method  requires  careful  control.  Nicotine, 
physostigmine,  and  aconitine  did  not  give  concordant  results  in  the 
experiments  we  made,  and  we  have  not  been  able  to  determine 
whether  it  is  possible  to  modify  the  technic  so  as  to  make  it  available 
for  those  bodies  or  not. 
table  1. 
Equivalents  in  mgs.  per  cat  unit  of  various  digitalis  bodies. 
Ouabain,  cryst   0.10 
Stroph.  amorph.  B.  and  S   0.13  1 
Stroph.  amorph.  Merck   0.17 
Digitoxin,  cryst   0.30 
Digitoxin,  am.  so-called   1.20 
Digitalinum  ver.  Kil   1.50 
Stroph.  hisp   1.50 
Digitalein   2.90 
Adonidin   3.00 
Stroph.  Kombe    3.00 
Digitalin,  German    4-°° 
Digitalis,  German   82.00 
Digitalis,  Eng   92.00 
The  estimations  in  the  table  were  made  by  the  continuous  injec- 
tion of  the  various  bodies  mentioned  except  in  the  case  of  digitoxin 
and  the  digitalis  leaf,  and  it  is  quite  possible  that  corrections  will 
have  to  be  made  for  some  of  these  when  crystalline  ouabain  is 
used  to  complete  the  injection.  Attention  is  called  to  the  similarity 
of  the  results  reported  to  those  obtained  by  Worth  Hale  in  comparing 
crystalline  digitoxin  with  the  amorphous  so-called  (7.  Am.  Med. 
Assn.,  v.  54,  p.  35),  but  we  believe  that  the  method  reported  here 
has  the  advantage  of  greater  accuracy  and  ease  with  which  it  may  be 
followed,  and  of  great  economy  in  time. 
1This  amorphous  strophanthin  of  Boehringer  and  Sons  sold  in  sterile 
tubes  apparently  is  more  active  than  other  specimens  of  their  amorphous 
strophanthin  or  that  of  Merck  which  we  have  examined  at  different  times. 
