Am'sTe°pUt-"i^9!'m*  }  Standardisation  of  Medicinal  Products.  587 
One  of  the  most  valuable  phases  of  animal  experimentation  is 
the  elimination  of  harmful  and  of  valueless  drugs,  giving  the  physi- 
cian greater  assurance  of  obtaining  the  desired  results  from  admin- 
istration of  remedies.  From  this  also  has  resulted  the  substitution 
of  the  pure  principles  for  the  crude  drugs  arid  nauseous  extracts 
previously  used. 
It  is  a  common  occurrence  to  find  on  the  market  strophanthus 
seed,  as  low  in  activity  as  one  fourth  that  of  the  adopted  standard 
and,  on  the  other  hand,  two  or  three  times  as  active  as  this  standard. 
An  under  dose  as,  for  example,  a  dose  from  a  sub-standard  prep- 
aration, might  be  harmless,  but  if  a  life  were  hanging  by  a  thread 
and  required  a  dose  of  an  active  heart  stimulant,  either  a  highly 
potent  or  a  worthless  sample  would  be  equally  fatal.  In  the  one 
case,  the  worthless  sample  would  not  stimulate  the  heart  muscles  to 
the  necessary  activity.  In  the  other,  an  extract  of  an  exceptionally 
potent  lot  of  drug  would  poison  the  heart  by  overstimulation  and 
just  as  surely  cause  death. 
Ergot  is  another  illustration  of  this.  It  has  been  used  for  cen- 
turies in  aiding  childbirth  and  arresting  hemorrhage,  but  has  suf- 
fered often  from  the  fact  that  it  is  uncertain  in  its  action,  some  ex- 
tracts being  apparently  devoid  of  any  action  on  the  uterus.  Withi 
my  memory,  a  German  chemist  put  on  the  market  the  supposedly 
active  principle  called  clavin.  This  substance  might  be  tested  in  two 
ways,  either  in  cases  of  labor  on  human  subjects,  or  by  a  few  careful 
tests  on  anesthetized  animals.  Two  or  three  tests  by  the  latter 
method  were  sufficient  to  show  that  clavin  was  quite  inert. 
Further  chemical,  combined  with  pharmacological,  investiga- 
tions established  the  fact  that  ergot  owes  its  therapeutic  value  to 
three  active  principles  each  of  which  has  its  well-marked  effect  and 
each  of  which  is  equally  essential  to  the  complete  action  of  the  drug. 
Without  animal  experiments  carried  out  in  connection  with  the 
chemical  investigations  the  composition  of  ergot  and  its  rational  use 
would  still  be  uncertain.  Even  with  our  present  knowledge  of  its 
composition  we  are  still  unable  to  standardize  extracts  of  ergot 
except  by  a  physiological  test.  The  usual  test  applied,  however, 
does  not  involve  death,  anesthesia  or  even  suffering  except  the  prick 
of  the  hypodermic  needle. 
The  uncertain  effects  of  extracts  of  cannabis  indica,  before 
physiological  experiments  established  the  fact  that  this  is  due  to 
