Am. 
Sept'  i9i9rm'  }    Standardisation  of  Piscidia  erythrina.  575 
THE  STANDARDIZATION  OF  PISCIDIA  ERYTHRINA 
(JAMAICA  DOGWOOD).* 
By  Paul  S.  Pittenger,  Phar.D.,  and  George  E.  £we. 
Although  the  amount  of  Jamaica  dogwood  prescribed  and  used 
by  the  present-day  practitioner  is  very  small  as  compared  with  such 
drugs  as  cannabis  and  opium,  which  possess  a  somewhat  similar 
but  more  powerful  action,  the  drug  is  still  used  in  appreciable 
quantities. 
It  is  the  opinion  of  the  authors  that  any  drug  which  is  worthy 
of  being  used  as  a  medicinal  agent  should  be  standardized  either  by 
chemical  or  biological  methods. 
As  we  were  unable  to  find  in  the  literature  any  satisfactory 
method  of  assaying  Jamaica  dogwood,  we  conducted  a  series  of 
experiments  with  the  object  of  developing,  if  possible,  either  a 
chemical  or  a  biological  method  for  standardizing  this  drug. 
Since  the  principal  end  to  be  accomplished  by  the  assay  of  a 
drug  or  its  preparations  is  to  secure  a  means  of  measuring  its  thera- 
peutic efficiency,  a  chemical  method  fails  of  its  purpose  unless  some 
direct  and  constant  ratio  exists  between  the  figures  obtained  by  the 
assay  process  and  the  therapeutic  activity  of  the  drug.  For  this 
reason  it  was  necessary  for  us  to  first  develop  a  satisfactory  biologic 
method  for  measuring  the  therapeutic  activity  of  the  drug.  Without 
a  satisfactory  biologic  method  it  is  impossible  to  determine  whether 
or  not  the  substance  isolated  by  chemical  means  bears  any  relation 
to  the  activity  of  the  drug. 
We,  therefore,  first  devoted  our  attention  to  the  physiologic 
action. 
Physiologic  Action. 
The  researches  of  Ott1  and  Nagle2  show  that  Jamaica  dogwood 
possesses  a  marked  sedative,  analgesic  and  hypnotic  action. 
Of  the  three  actions  mentioned,  the  hypnotic  effect  presented 
itself  as  the  most  likely  means  of  physiologic  standardization. 
*  Read  before  the  meeting  of  the  Pennsylvania  Pharmaceutical  Associa- 
tion, Buena  Vista  Springs,  June  26,  1919. 
1  Ott,  Isaac :  Therapeutic  Gazette,  1883,  supplement  to  March  number, 
pages  12  to  17  inc. 
2  Nagle,  A.  C. :  Druggists  Circular,  Feb.,  1881,  p.  18. 
