596  Valuation  of  Drugs  and  Foods. 
The  words  of  Cushny,  coming,  as  they  do,  from  a  physician, 
have  necessarily  considerable  weight,  and  point  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  in  many  instances  the  effects  of  drugs  may  be  most  satis- 
factorily ascertained  by  laboratory  experiments  upon  the  lower  ani- 
mals. That  qualitative  results  are  obtained  in  this  manner  is  not  to  be 
doubted.  The  question  seems  to  be,  are  quantitative  results  which  are 
of  value  likely  to  be  obtained  ?  From  the  experiments  of  True  upon 
plants  and  of  Loeb  upon  eggs  of  sea-urchins,  fishes  and  other  lower 
animals,  we  see  no  reason  why  approximate  quantitative  values  of 
drugs  and  their  preparations  cannot  be  obtained.  Even  though  the 
results  may  not  represent  all  that  is  to  be  desired,  we  cannot  but 
believe  that  they  are  of  far  more  value  in  at  least  certain  drugs  than 
any  other  value  of  the  drug  that  may  be  given. 
There  are  a  number  of  drugs,  viz.,  ergot,  ipecac,  physos- 
tigma,  strophanthus,  digitalis,  belladonna,  Rhamnus  purshiana,  etc., 
whose  efficiency  may  be  probably  best  determined  by  studying 
their  effects  upon  lower  animals.  The  values  obtained  by  this 
means  mean  more  to  the  practitioner,  and  will  dispel  more  or  less 
of  the  uncertainty  that  attaches  to  the  administration  of  these 
drugs  or  their  preparations. 
It  is  well  known  that  the  ophthalmologist  has  pharmacological 
values  for  the  different  mydriatics  and  myotics.  In  response  to  a 
request  to  Dr.  Wendell  Reber,  of  Philadelphia,  for  the  relative  po- 
tency of  the  different  substances  which  affect  the  pupil  of  the  eye, 
I  received  the  following: 
The  smallest  quantities  in  solution  of  these  substances  that  will 
affect  the  pupil  are  :  Homatropin  hydrobrom.,  gr.  g-^Q-Q-  ;  eserin 
sulph.,  gr.  lwVo  o  i  atropm  sulph.,  gr.  y^ooo  >  and  hyoscyamin 
hydrochlor.,  gr.  3-0  qWoo"  •  Taking  homatropin  as  the  unit,  the 
relative  strengths  of  the  mydriatics  and  myotics  appear  to  be : 
Pilocarpin  ......  % 
Eserin  •  •  6 
Atropin   30 
Hyoscyamin    75 
Dr.  Reber  also  informed  me  that  the  anaesthetic  effects  of  the  dif- 
ferent anaesthetics  were  being  calculated  or  measured  by  an  aesthesi- 
ometer.  The  aesthesiometer,  invented  by  Sieveking,  consists  essen- 
tially of  two  movable  points,  which,  being  placed  upon  the  skin,  or 
upon  a  mucous  membrane,  are  approximated  until  the  two  tactile 
