Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  ) 
May,  1921.  J 
Echinacea. 
331 
of  "depravation"  of  body  fluids,  and  of  septic,  fermentative  or  zymo- 
tic conditions.  It  is  said  to  antagonize  infectious  processes  an4 
^'blood  poison,"  and  to  be  useful  in  puerperal  sepsis,  uremia,  perni- 
cious malarial  or  septic  fevers,  typhoid  fever,  and  all  fevers  caused 
by  absorption  of  septic  material.  It  has  been  advertised  as  a  specific 
against  the  venoms  of  rattlesnakes,  other  serpents,  and  insects. 
"Pyemia"  "goiter,"  "smallpox,"  "anthrax"  and  "hydrophobia"  are 
reported  to  have  been  cured  by  echinacea.  It  is  alleged  to  be  an  anti- 
dote for  tetanus.  It  has  been  used  locally  in  erysipelas,  bedsores, 
fever  sores,  chronic  ulcers,  glandular  indurations,  syphilitic  nodules^ 
burns  and  gangrene,  and  is  to  be  an  active  sialogogue,  diuretic  and 
diaphoretic. 
This  is  a  rather  formidable  aggregation  of  potencies  for  even 
the  most  respectable  of  drugs.  The  government  pathologists  have 
accordingly  undertaken  to  determine  the  possible  usefulness  of 
echinacea  as  a  remedy  in  several  pathologic  conditions  induced  by 
bacteria,  their  products  or  allied  toxins.  The  results  of  the  experi- 
mental investigations  on  guinea-pigs  are  devoid  of  evidence  of  func- 
tional effects,  as  were  the  earlier  studies  of  competent  workers.  In 
both  tetanus  and  botulism  produced  by  the  administration,  of  bac- 
terial toxin,  the1  course  of  the  disease  was  not  modified  by  the  echi- 
nacea. In  septicemia  produced  by  injection  of  a  culture  of  Bacillus 
bovisepticus,  and  in  anthrax  produced  by  infection  with  B.  anthracis, 
the  result  indicated  that"  echinacea  had  no  influence.  In  rattlesnake 
poisoning  produced  by  injection  of  a  solution  of  the  dry  venom,  the 
echinacea  preparations  were  without  curative  effect.  In  the  chronic 
diseases,  tuberculosis  produced  by  injection  of  a  human  strain  of  the 
bacillus,  and  trypanosomiasis  produced  by  injection  of  Trypanosoma 
equiperdum,  the  remedy  was  administered  over  an  extended  period 
of  time  without  apparently  influencing  the  course  of  these  diseases. 
Of  course,  it  will  be  retorted  that  the  negative  results  on  laboratory 
animals  need  not  necessarily  apply  to  sick  human  beings,  and  that 
subtle  potent  effects  are  not  always  discovered  by  research  workers. 
An  appeal  may  be  made  to  the  "generations"  of  patients,  particu- 
larly American  Indians,  who  have  experienced  the  beneficent'  in- 
fluences of  echinacea.  Scientific  medicine  of  today,  however,  asks 
for  evidence  that  can  be  demonstrated  by  the  pharmacologist  or  can 
be  appreciated  and  accepted  by  the  critical  clinician  as  well  as  the 
quack.  Echinacea  has  not  yet  established  its  claims  for  such  recog- 
nition although  it  may  remain  a  name  to  conjure  with. 
