232 
Poke  Root  in  Medicine. 
5  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
X     March,  1921. 
the  animals  which  received  echinacea  was  67.16  days,  or  16.16  days 
longer  than  the  untreated  animals. 
The  authors'  conclusions  are  that  "neither  of  these  prepara- 
tions appeared  to  influence  the  course  of  the  disease.  They  cer- 
tainly have  no  curative  value,"  while  a  clinician  in  reviewing  the 
same  experiments  might  claim  that  they  showed  the  very  decided 
value  of  the  drug  in  prolonging  the  lives  of  the  infected  animals. 
From  the  foregoing  it  is  apparent  that  in  every  series  of  ex- 
periments, save  only  those  with  anthrax,  there  was  a  perceptible 
margin  of  evidence,  clinically  speaking,  in  favor  of  echinacea  treat- 
ment in  the  infections  and  intoxications  experimented  with,  though 
it  is  possible  that  a  restatement  of  all  survival  periods  in  hours 
instead  of  days  might,  in  some  of  the  experiments,  turn  the  balance 
of  the  evidence  in  the  opposite  direction. 
While  these  experiments  of  Couch  and  Giltner  are  perhaps  too 
few  in  number  to  be  regarded  as  conclusive,  they  are  of  very  great 
value  as  illustrating  the  difference  in  the  viewpoints  and  methods 
of  deduction  of  the  laboratory  worker  and  of  the  clinician,  a  dif- 
ference that  may  lead  to  diametrically  opposed  conclusions  from 
the  same  observed  facts. 
POKE  ROOT  IN  MEDICINE* 
By  U.  Aylmer  Coates,  M.P.S. 
I  was  very  much  interested  in  the  article  on  Phytolacca 
decandra  by  our  Curator,  Mr.  E.  M.  Holmes,  F.L.S.  (P.  J.,  No- 
vember 6,  page  417). 1  My  attention  was  drawn  to  this  drug  some 
ten  years  since.  From  my  own  experience  I  have  found  it  a  very 
powerful  alterative,  and  serviceable  in  chronic  rheumatism.  I  have 
experimented  with  it  in  the  form  of  fluid  extract;  it  appears  to 
be  very  effective  in  that  form.  From  personal  experience  I  found 
3  minims  of  the  fluid  extract  the  best  dosage.  When  5  minims 
are  taken  it  upsets  the  stomach  slightly  and  produces  emesia.  Poke 
root  is  evidently  a  very  powerful  drug  and  worthy  of  further  in- 
vestigation.   My  attention  was  originally  drawn  to  it  by  an  article 
*  From  Pharm.  Jour.  &  Pharm.,  Nov.  20,  1920. 
1  Amcr.  Journ.  Pharm.,  Vol.  93  (1921),  Jan.,  p.  47. 
