302  Pharmacology  of  Cotton  Root  Hark.  May'^^QTJ. 
INTACT  UTERUS  EXPERIMENTS. 
The  intact  uterus  experiments  were  carried  out  on  both 
cats  and  rabbits.  Nothing  was  known  regarding  the  previous 
condition  of  the  cats.  For  the  experiments,  they  were  anaes- 
thetized with  acetoform.  The  rabbits  were  anaesthetized  with 
paraldehyde.  Those  which  had  had  young,  had  previously 
been  used  for  certain  biological  tests.  The  virgins  were  young 
animals  which  were  raised  at  the  laboratory.  Tables  8  and  9 
give  the  results  recorded  in  these  experiments. 
SUMMARY  AND  CONCLUSIONS. 
Cock's  Comb  Method. — Cotton  root  bark  in  large  doses  produced 
very  slight  bluing  of  the  cock's  comb  in  a  few  cases.  Doses  of  the 
fluidextract  fully  four  times  as  large  as  those  required  of  fiuidextract 
of  ergot  to  produce  a  distinct  bluing,  failed  to  produce  a  comparable 
effect.  Other  systemic  effects  such  as  dyspnoea  and  diarrhoea  were 
very  pronounced.  Owing  to  these  severe  symptoms  produced  by 
the  cotton  root  bark  in  the  necessarily  large  doses,  and  to  the  un- 
satisfactory effect  on  the  comb,  a  close  comparison  could  not  be 
drawn  between  the  activity  of  this  drug  and  ergot. 
By  this  method,  no  decided  difference  could  be  detected  between 
any  of  the  samples  tested,  which  included  root  bark  from  thirteen 
different  varieties  of  the  cotton  plant  collected  at  flowering,  and 
several  samples  of  commercial  drug  both  "green"  and  "dried." 
Blood  Pressure  Method. — Cotton  root  bark  produced  a  slight  but 
transient  pressor  effect  on  the  blood  pressure  of  the  dog.  The  ex- 
tent of  the  effect  and  the  duration  were  not  comparable  to  that  pro- 
duced by  very  much  smaller  doses  of  ergot.  The  effect  of  the  cotton 
root  bark  usually  passed  off  in  5  or  lo  minutes,  and  occasionally 
this  period  was  followed  by  one  of  lowered  pressure.  Succeeding 
doses  produced  less  and  less  effect.  Similarly,  ergot  following  one 
or  more  doses  of  cotton  root  bark,  even  though  the  pressure  had  not 
been  more  than  slightly  elevated,  seemingly  did  not  cause  its  usual 
effect. 
Five  kymograms  taken  on  the  intact  cat  showed  either  a  fall  or 
no  effect  on  the  pressure. 
On  the  cat  spinal  preparation,  cotton  root  bark  caused  a  fall  in 
pressure.  One  record  on  a  dog  spinal  preparation  showed  a  slight 
but  very  brief  rise  followed  by  a  fall  below  normal. 
On  these  preparations,  ergot  produced  a  fairly  well  maintained 
rise. 
By  this  method,  no  appreciable  or  striking  difference  was  notice- 
able between  any  of  the  cotton  root  products  tested. 
