586  Standardization  of  Medicinal  Products.  {Am~  l™t' IgTg™' 
In  preparing  antitoxin  by  developing  it  in  the  horse's  blood,  a 
certain  number  of  horses  are  valueless  for  this  purpose  because  the 
immune  bodies  will  not  develop  or  will  acquire  only  a  nominal 
potency.  How  is  this  to  be  determined?  On  your  child  or  mine? 
Or  is  it  more  humane  to  standardize  the  serum  on  guinea  pigs  and 
by  this  means  eliminate  antitoxin  of  low  potency  which  is  indistin- 
guishable from  a  potent  sample  by  any  known  test  except  that  on 
the  living  animal  or  human  being? 
Recently  in  the  daily  press,  we  read  of  the  men  who,  in  the  in- 
terests of  the  army  as  a  whole,  served  as  a  means  of  demonstrating 
whether  or  not  trench  fever  is  transmissible  by  "  cooties."  While 
this  disease  may  not  be  regarded  in  the  same  category  as  some, 
during  the  war  it  involved  discomfort  and  possible  death  to  many  a 
soldier.  This  method  of  study  was  necessary  because  it  is  impos- 
sible by  animal  experiment  to  demonstrate  the  correctness  of  the 
theory.  . 
The  world  proclaims  as  a  hero  the  physician  who  risks  his  life 
to  verify  certain  facts,  such  as  the  transmissibility  of  yellow  fever 
and  malaria  by  the  bite  of  the  mosquito.  If  it  were  possible  to  sub- 
stitute the  life  of  a  dog  or  a  horse  for  that  of  the  man  with  equal 
benefit  to  the  world,  would  it  be  difficult  to  choose?  The  average 
person  would  say  that  the  physician  was  the  more  valuable  to  the 
community  and  the  world. 
The  natives  of  Africa  were  able  to  make  their  weapons  more 
effective  by  dipping  the  arrow  points  into  a  poison  prepared  from 
certain  seeds,  finely  ground,  and  partially  extracted.  Careful  study 
of  this  poison  on  animals  revealed  the  fact  that  it  has  a  peculiar 
effect  on  the  heart,  causing,  in  sublethal  doses,  a  slowing  and 
strengthening  of  the  heart  beat. 
In  certain  cardiac  diseases,  where  the  pulse  is  weak  and  rapid, 
it  is  logical  to  use  strophanthus,  the  arrow  poison,  to  counteract  the 
abnormal  condition.  No  statistics  could  be  collected  to  show  the 
value  of  this  remedial  agent,  discovered  by  the  hunter  and  developed 
by  the  pharmacologist,  the  vivisector,  but  its  constant  use  indicates 
its  importance.  To-day,  although  its  place  is  secure  as  one  of  the 
most  valuable  of  the  heart  tonics,  strophanthus  still  exacts  a  certain 
toll  of  lives?  Why?  Because  the  physician  prefers  that  some 
almost  worthless  frogs  should  die  than  that  he  should  use  an  over- 
dose of  this  powerful  drug. 
