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Study  in  Echinacea  Therapy. 
( Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
I     March,  1921. 
cal  conditions  produced  in  the  guinea  pigs  were  tetanus  and  botulism 
(in  both  of  which  the  diseases  were  produced  by  bacterial  toxins), 
anthrax  and  septiceamia  (in  both  of  which  the  bacteria  were  in- 
jected into  the  animals),  and  crotalus  poisoning  (in  which  the  venom 
of  the  rattlesnake  was  injected).  The  chronic  diseases  against  which 
the  echinacea  preparations  were  tested  consisted  of  tuberculosis 
and  a  trypanosomiasis  (dourine),  the  first  of  which  was  produced 
by  innoculation  with  the  bacillus  from  a  human  strain,  and  the 
second  by  innoculation  with  the  tryanosomes.  The  pathogenic 
materials  were  carefully  selected  and  were  tested  for  activity  and 
potency  so  that  no  animal  should  receive  an  excessive  dose. 
The  method  of  procedure  was  designed  to  favor  the  remedy  as 
much  as  possible.  Both  per  se  and  parenteral  administration  of  the 
remedy  was  employed.  Some  of  the  animals  were  injected  with  the 
pathogenic  material  and  were  immediately  afterwards  treated  with 
the  echinacea  preparations  in  suitable  doses  the  treatment  being 
continued  until  the  animals  succumbed.  Other  animals  were  dosed 
with  echinacea  for  several  days  before  administering  the  organism 
or  toxins  and  then  were  given  remedial  doses.  Still  others  were 
given  a  few  doses  of  echinacea  and  were  then  rested  for  several  days 
and  were  finally  injected  with  pathogenic  material. 
In  no  one  of  the  diseases  treated  with  echinacea  preparations 
was  any  evidence  obtained  to  show  that  the  plant  exerts  any  in- 
fluence upon  the  course  of  infectious  processes  under  laboratory 
conditions.  In  the  two  chronic  diseases  where  the  animals  were 
given  doses  of  echinacea  for  extended  periods  of  time  nothing 
appeared  in  the  autopsy  pictures  which  could  be  attributed  to  the 
action  of  the  echinacea  per  se,  except  that  in  two  cases  a  gastric 
catarrh  was  present  which  may  have  been  due  to  this  plant.  Every 
experiment  was  checked  with  control  animals  in  sufficient  number 
and,  in  all  cases,  the  course  of  the  disease  was  the  same  in  the 
control  animals  and  in  the  animals  which  were  given  remedial  treat- 
ment. 
It  does  not  appear,  therefore,  that  the  preparations  of  echinacea 
are  of  value  in  the  treatment  of  diseases  produced  by  micro- 
organisms and  their  toxic  products. 
