366 
Standardization  of  Drugs. 
(  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\     August,  1910. 
mentioned.  It  was  said  to  be  from  a  carefully  collected  and  treated 
cultivated  leaf. 
C.  1  had  had  100  nigs,  of  the  same  per  rectum  3  hours  previously. 
D.  2  were  labelled  Mixt.  A.  and  B.3  and  the  strength  of  these 
were  unknown  to  the  operator,  Dr.  Brody.  In  the  first  of  these  two 
experiments  2.73  c.c.  per  kg.  were  used,  the  cat  weighed  1.65  kgs., 
hence  4.5  c.c.  were  injected;  in  the  second  3.18  c.c.  per  kg.  were  used 
for  a  cat  weighing  2.22  kg.,  a  total  of  7.05  c.c.  The  first  solution 
represents  125  mg.  in  3  c.c,  and  3.5  c.c.  of  the  second  represents  a 
like  amount. 
Four  estimations  of  digitalinum  verum  were  made.  1.50;  1.52; 
1.56,  and  1.80  mgs.  respectively  were  found  to  be  equal  to  1  cat  unit. 
Digitalinum  verum  and  digitoxin  being  insoluble  in  water,  alco- 
holic solutions  were  employed. 
Four  estimations  of  digitalein  were  also  made,  the  equivalents 
of  a  cat  unit  being  2.89;  2.90;  2.98,  and  4.50  mgs.  respectively. 
Digitalein  being  very  soluble  in  water,  is  used  conveniently  in  this 
way. 
Two  lactating  animals  were  given  large  amounts  of  strophanthus 
in  one  case,  and  digitalis  in  the  other.  The  first  took  217  mgs. 
of  digitalis  per  kg.  of  weight,  which  is  more  than  twice  the  amount 
of  this  specimen  usually  required  and  the  second  took  two  and 
one-third  times  as  much  strophanthus  as  other  cats  of  the  same 
weight.  These  are  the  only  two  instances  in  which  an  animal  re- 
quired anything  like  so  much  of  these  two  drugs.  We  are  unable 
to  state  whether  this  is  a  coincidence  or  whether  lactating  animals 
are  habitually  tolerant  toward  the  drugs  of  this  group.  We  hope  to 
be  able  to  decide  this  point  in  the  near  future. 
Three  experiments  were  made  with  impure  adonidin.  The  first 
animal  received  more  than  6  mgs.  of  the  drug  per  kg.  of  weight. 
We  had  little  idea  of  the  activity  of  the  specimen  and  injected  it 
much  more  rapidly  than  in  the  second  and  third  experiments,  hence 
the  excess  over  that  actually  required  was  much  greater.  This  ex- 
periment should  be  disregarded  in  the  calculations.  The  second 
and  third  animals  received  2.86  and  3.12  mgs.  per  kg.  respectively. 
The  results  obtained  with  German  digitalin  require  an  explana- 
tion. German  digitalin  is  wholly  unsuited  for  estimation  by  intra- 
venous injection,  its  true  digitalis  action  being  much  less  than  that 
indicated  by  the  figures  in  the  table,  death  being  due  mainly  to  the 
