THE  AMERICAN 
JOURNAL  OP  PHARMACY 
OCTOBER,  1909 
\ 
THE  PHARMACOLOGICAL  ASSAY  OF  THE 
HEART  TONICS.* 
FIFTEEN    YEARS'  EXPERIENCE. 
By  E.  M.  Houghton,  Ph.C,  M.D., 
and 
H.  C.  Hamilton,  M.S. 
From  ihe  Research  Laboratory  of  Parke,  Davis  <V  Co.,  Detroit,  Michigan. 
In  the  early  nineties,  the  possibility  of  determining  the  neutraliz- 
ing value  of  antidiphtheric  serum  toward  diphtheria  toxin  by  experi- 
ments upon  animals  was  clearly  shown  by  several  workers,  the 
method  devised  by  Ehrlich  after  several  years'  trial  in  nearly  all 
parts  of  the  world  being  finally  accepted  as  the  standard  method  for 
assaying  this  serum. 
One  of  us  (Houghton)  commenced  a  series  of  experiments  in 
the  autumn  of  1894,  looking  forward  to  the  devising  of  a  suitable 
method  of  assay  that  could  be  rationally  applied  for  the  determination 
of  the  value  of  preparations  of  the  heart  tonics.  These  studies  have 
been  continued  until,  the  present.  During  this  time  several  papers 
have  been  published  (A.M. A..  June  9,  1898.  and  since),  calling 
attention  to  the  method  of  assay.,  to  the  great  variation  in  the 
potency  of  these  drugs,  and  to  the  later  results  obtained,  the  last 
paper  in  the  series  being  a  complete  presentation  of  the  subject  before 
the  International  Congress  of  Applied  Chemistry.  London,  Eng., 
May.  1909  {Lancet,  June  19,  1909). 
*  Presented  at  the  1909  meeting  of  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Asso- 
ciation, Aug.  19.  1909. 
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