Am.  Jour,  Pharm. 
October,  1920. 
Action  of  Adonis  Vernalis. 
the  frogs  injected  with  adonis  show  the  same  amount  of  irritation  as  is 
so  frequently  seen  in  the  digit ahs  frogs.  They  usually  lie  quietly 
until  the  very  last,  before  showing  any  signs  of  discomfort. 
One  method  of  demonstrating  the  irritant  properties  of  digitalis 
has  been  by  perfusing  frog  hearts  with  physiological  salt  solution 
until  they  just  stop  beating.  Dilute  digitalis  preparations,  either 
applied  to  the  heart  or  introduced  into  the  perfusing  solution  at  this 
time,  caused  the  heart  to  again  start  beating.  Frog  hearts  treated 
in  a  similar  manner  with  adonis,  even  with  fairly  strong  solutions, 
could  not  be  induced  to  again  start  beating.  (Tracing  3- A  and 
3-B.) 
.  Large  doses  of  adonis  administered  orally  to  guinea  pigs,  rabbits 
and  dogs,  produced  no  vomiting  and  no  apparent  nausea,  whereas 
the  symptoms  of  digitalis  poisoning  are  most  constantly  initiated  by 
nausea  and  vomiting.  As  shown  by  Hatcher  and  Eggleston,^^  how- 
ever, these  symptoms  may  not  be  due  to  the  irritation  produced  by 
the  drug  upon  the  gastric  mucous  membrane.  They  demonstrated 
that  the  intravenous  injection  of  relatively  small  doses  of  digitalis  to 
cats  would  produce  emesis,  even  more  readily  than  if  administered 
orally,  and  that  this  action  was  probably  due  to  its  effect  upon  the 
central  nervous  system,  rather  than  to  any  irritant  properties  that  it 
might  have  upon  the  mucous  membranes.  They  were  able  to  pro- 
duce emesis  in  dogs  upon  the  intravenous  injection  of  0.5  mg.  of 
digitoxin  per  kilo,  while  adonis  required  65  mg.  per  kilo,  or  one  hun- 
dred and  thirty  times  as  large  a  dose  to  produce  the  same  result. 
Whether  the  comparative  lack  of  emetic  properties  possessed  by 
adonis  is  due  to  the  fact  that  it  is  non-irritating  to  the  mucous  mem- 
branes, or  that  it  is  unable  to  produce  emesis  by  acting  upon  the 
medulla,  the  mere  fact  that  it  does  not  have  the  same  amount  of 
emetic  action  as  digitalis  might  be  a  valuable  therapeutic  factor,  for 
patients  suffering  from  cardiac  decompensation  may  suffer  severely 
from  gastric  symptoms,  and  the  administration  of  the  emetic  digi- 
talis becomes  most  difficult. 
THE  ACTION  OF  ADONIS  IN  MAMMAIvS. 
The  blood  pressure  tracing  shows  three  typical  effects  as  taken 
from  rabbits,  following  the  intravenous  injection  of  about  one-half  cc. 
of  an  average  strength  tincture  of  adonis.  (Tracing  2.)  There 
is  an  immediate  rise  in  pressure,  lasting  on  the  average  about  five  or 
ten  seconds.    After  falHng  back  to  normal,  there  immediately 
