"^^^kSch'mr™'}  Biological  Standardization  of  Drugs.  109 
that  of  taking  an  aliquot  part,  was  also  tested  and  gave  results 
corresponding  closely. 
The  three  biological  methods  were  also  employed.  Cocks  of  the 
Leghorn  variety  and  of  nearly  pure  blood  were  chosen  for  ob- 
servations on  the  cock's  comb.  Mongrel  roosters  cannot  be  suc- 
cessfully used  on  account  of  individual  variation.  We  have  also 
some  evidence  that  they  should  be  of  the  same  age,  the  older 
roosters  apparently  being  more  resistant.  The  drug  was  injected 
into  the  breast  muscle  as  a  rule  but  in  a  few  instances  into  the 
thigh.  The  doses  ranged  from  i  to  4  c.c.  of  the  fluid  extract  and 
in  each  instance  a  control  rooster  was  injected  with  one  of  the 
preparations  which  we  used  as  a  standard.  A  minimal  bluing 
was  regarded  by  us  as  the  best  for  making  the  comparisons  but 
doses  above  and  below  this  were  given  to  insure  greater  accuracy 
of  results.  In  this  way  difl:"erences  of  probably  15  per  cent,  could 
be  determined. 
In  the  blood  pressure  work  dogs  anaesthetized  with  morphine 
were  used  and  the  drug  in  the  dosage  recommended  by  Wood  was 
injected  into  the  saphenous  vein.  The  average  of  the  maximum 
rise,  the  5  minute  and  the  10  minute  rise  in  blood  pressure  were 
^  taken  as  the  index  of  the  drugs  activity. 
In  the  uterus  method  cats  were  employed  for  all  determinative 
readings.  For  the  intact  animal,  after  anaesthesia,  using  chloral 
and  ethyl  carbamate,  the  animal  was  submerged  in  a  large  tank 
filled  with  salt  solution  to  protect  the  uterus  from  the  air.  The 
abdomen  was  opened  and  a  lever  attached  to  the  uterus.  The  drug 
was  injected  through  a  cannula  into  a  vein.  A  standard  drug  as  a 
basis  of  comparison  was  injected  alternately  with  the  ergot  prepara- 
tion under  consideration  and  the  effect  on  the  uterus  recorded  by 
the  lever  on  a  smoked  paper. 
The  work  on  the  isolated  uterus  is  much  simpler.  The  animal 
is  either  killed  outright  or  anaesthetized  and  the  uterus  removed. 
Only  a  very  short  section  of  this  organ  is  used — in  the  contracted 
state  not  over  a  centimetre  in  length  ;  this  is  put  in  a  small  con- 
stant temperature  bath  which  is  filled  with  an  oxygenated  physio- 
logical salt  solution  after  the  formula  of  Locke.  The  organ  is 
then  attached  to  a  writing  lever  in  order  to  secure  a  record  of 
its  movements. 
Uterus  tracings  from  different  animals  differ  widely  in  char- 
acter which  makes  the  effect  of  ergot  difficult  to  read.    After  some 
