Am.  jour.  Pharm.  |        jne  ^ext  jj^  §  p  Revisi0n.  C87 
Ausrust.  igio.     J  Ou/ 
the  pulse  rate  followed  by  rapid  increase  just  before  death.  Post- 
mortem examinations  revealed  systolic  hearts  in  each  case  with  the 
exception  of  cat  number  six.  All  of  the  cats  were  unusually  irritable 
and  required  more  or  less  continual  administration  of  a  small  amount 
of  ether  to  keep  them  quiet. 
Table  VII. 
Comparative  Toxicity  of  Separated  Portions  of  Digitalis. 
Separated  Portion. 
Per  Cent. 
Ash. 
M.  L.  D. 
per  250  Gm. 
Pig. 
Equivalent 
Cat  Unit  in 
Mg.  Drug. 
Relative  1 
Separated  ] 
Guinea  Pig 
Method. 
"oxicity  of 
3ortions  by 
Cat 
Method. 
Select  clean  digitalis  
9.284 
8.76 
50.81 
•04375 
.225 
.200 
87.62 
332.6 
510 
100 
19.44 
21.8 
100 
26.3 
I7.I8 
The  above  table  gives  the  comparative  activity  of  select  clean 
digitalis,  petioles,  and  number  50  dirt  siftings  presented  in  a  form 
convenient  for  comparison.  From  the  above  observations  we  believe 
that  all  supplies  of  the  drug  digitalis  should  be  carefully  garbled  and 
thoroughly  cleaned  before  being  used. 
Summary. — Select  clean  digitalis  produced  during  the  season  of 
191 7  in  the  Medicinal  Plant  Garden,  College  of  Pharmacy,  Univer- 
sity of  Minnesota,  was  more  than  twice  as  active  when  tested  physio- 
logically in  the  form  of  an  infusion  by  the  guinea-pig  method  as  the 
arbitrary  standard  earlier  proposed  by  Reed  and  Vanderkleed. 
An  infusion  of  the  same  drug  when  assayed  by  the  direct  intra- 
venous cat  method  gave  a  cat  unit  of  87.62  milligrammes  per  Kg.  of 
cat,  which  is  about  twelve  per  cent,  more  active  than  the  average 
digitalis  when  tested  by  this  method. 
Relatively  the  Reed  and  Vanderkleed  standard  was  found  to  be 
much  lower  than  the  generally  accepted  standard  for  digitalis  when 
assayed  by  the  cat  method. 
The  petioles  of  digitalis  examined  contained  a  comparatively 
small  amount  of  the  active  principles  of  the  drug,  being  between  one 
fourth  and  one  fifth  as  active  as  the  entire  leaf. 
The  formation  of  the  medicinal  principles  of  the  digitalis  leaf  ap- 
pears to  take  place  chiefly  in  those  parts  of  the  leaf  where  phdto- 
synthetic  activity  is  most  pronounced. 
The  number  50  dirt  siftings  separated  from  digitalis  during 
