Torald Sollmann

Bronchial Perfusion of Isolated Lung as a Method for Studying Pharmacologic Reactions of Bronchiolar Muscle.

The methods for studying the changes of bronchiolar tone in intact animals are often complicated by changes in the circulation which make their interpretation uncertain. It would therefore be desirable to check them under conditions in which the circulation would be excluded, namely outside of the body. The use of ring preparations of tracheal or bronchial muscle for this purpose has not been altogether satisfactory, partly because these are confined to the trachea and larger bronchi which might react differently from the smaller bronchioles that play the major part in the bronchial reactions; and partly because it is difficult to reproduce the natural conditions of tension. These objections are avoided in the following method, which is based on measuring the rate of flow of a Locke solution through the bronchial tree, allowing the fluid to drain off by filtration. The arrangement is shown diagramatically in Fig. 1. A Mariotte bottle (M) filled with Locke solution is connected with a Woulff bottle (W), also filled with Locke solution, which sits in a bath (B) regulated to keep the temperature of the solution at 39° to 40° C., as indicated by the thermometer (Th). The outflow passes to a tube (T). The upper limb of this is furnished with a short piece of rubber tubing (R) which may be closed by a screwclamp (S). The lower limb is connected with a cannula tied into the short stump of the trachea of the excised lung (L). This should be used either promptly after the death of the animal, or else after lying on ice. In starting the experiment, the T tube is raised so that no fluid flows from the Mariotte bottle; the screwclamp (S) on the upper limb is opened, and the lung is attached to the lower limb. The T is then gradually lowered so that just enough liquid flows into the bronchi to distend the lung approximately to its normal size.

THE ACTION OF CALOMEL ON THE BILE

The green color of calomel stools has been the subject of considerable speculation and investigation. G. von Oettingen, 1 in 1848, and Buchheim, 2 in 1856, showed that there is an actual increase of bile pigments in the feces, and this naturally suggested that the calomel increased the bile flow; i. e., that it was a true cholagogue. However, direct experiments with biliary fistulas, acute and permanent, in animals and in man, showed quite definitely that the bile flow is not increased after the administration of calomel. 3 If the increase of bile pigment is not due to an increased flow of bile, it must apparently be due to the protection of these pigments against the destruction or reductive processes which ordinarily cause their disappearance or modification to yellow or colorless products, while they are passing down the course of the intestine. Hoppe Seyler 4 illustrated this by an experiment

DICHLORAMIN—T AND PETROLATUM DRESSING FOR BURNS

Dichloramin-T as a wound antiseptic has the very real advantage of furnishing a continuous supply of the antiseptic agent, securing a continuous action over long periods of time, and this with the simplest forms of dressings. A continuous supply of antiseptic is very important in the treatment of infected tissues when it is out of the question to kill all the bacteria at once. The simplest technic is at least an important convenience. On the other hand, dichloramin-T has some material disadvantages. The solutions must be prepared with some care, and must be fairly fresh, or else tested for the presence of available chlorin. The application causes considerable smarting and burning. This, however, disappears promptly, and can generally be tolerated. On repeated application, it is liable to irritate the skin. These disadvantages are rather minor, in most cases. Certain physical limitations are more serious in connection with burns. The large,

REPORTING OF ACCIDENTS FROM LOCAL ANESTHETICS

To the Editor: —The Committee on Therapeutic Research of the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry of the American Medical Association has undertaken a study of the accidents following the clinical use of local anesthetics, especially those following ordinary therapeutic doses. It is hoped that this study may lead to a better understanding of the cause of such accidents, and consequently to methods of avoiding them, or, at least, of treating them successfully when they occur. It is becoming apparent that several of the local anesthetics. if not all of those in general use, are prone to cause death or symptoms of severe poisoning in a small percentage of those cases in which the dose used has been hitherto considered quite safe. The infrequent occurrence of these accidents and their production by relatively small doses point to a peculiar hypersensitiveness on the part of those in whom the accidents occur. The

PHARMACOLOGY IN THE WAR

It is the problem of the war for a country to meet and to defeat not only the human enemy, but the forces of nature. Severe necessity arises in many forms, in many new garbs. That, however, brings out one of the compensations of the war: Necessity is the mother of invention, of conservation, of efficiency. The happy-go-lucky ways of peace no longer suffice. Every form of human endeavor is forced to the supreme effort. Let us see what part the subjects of pharmacology and therapeutics have played and can play in the struggle. What in particular our own country has done and can do in this field. The very opening of the war emphasized the problems of infections. The brilliant successes of serum therapy have robbed infections of much of their terror; but there was still far too much that remained unsolved. There was still a large scope for

YESTERDAY, TO-DAY AND TO-MORROW: THE ACTIVITIES OF THE COUNCIL ON PHARMACY AND CHEMISTRY

It seems but yesterday, though it was eight years last February, that the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry was founded by this Association, with the hope of correcting, as far as possible, the evils which were current in the field of materia medica. The story of this Council has been told repeatedly; but it seems to me worth telling again, partly because it may be new to some of the younger members at least; partly because it contains some facts and lessons which can scarcely be repeated too often; and partly because the present activities of the Council can be appreciated, and therefore can be valuable to the medical profession, only in the light of its history. THE EXPLOITATION OF PROPRIETARY REMEDIES The extraordinary profits derived from the sale of exclusive pharmaceutical specialties had flooded the market with such preparations. As the natural result of unrestrained competition, these were being

THE COMING REVISION OF THE UNITED STATES PHARMACOPEIA

The decennial convention for the revision of the Pharmacopeia will meet in Washington, D. C., on the 10th of May, 1910. The intervening time is none too long for the careful consideration of the policies which the delegates to this convention will have to determine. Their decisions will be the main factor in the fate of our Pharmacopeia, at least for the next ten years, and perhaps for much longer. The times are peculiarly favorable for effecting any necessary reforms, and it may be many years before an equally favorable opportunity will again present itself. This convention elects the revision committee and the officers and trustees. It may also direct the scope of the Pharmacopeia and the general methods to be used in the revision. Within very wide limits, it has the power of prescribing almost any policies which it considers wise. It is, therefore, charged with

THE VALUE OF SULPHATES IN CARBOLIC-ACID POISONING.

HISTORICAL DATA. The treatment of phenol poisoning by sulphates dates from the observation of Baumann,1in 1876, that a considerable proportion of the phenol is excreted in the urine as the practically harmless phenol-sulphonic (sulphocarbolic) acid, C6H4(OH)SO3H, or, rather, as the salts of this acid with the urine bases. Baumann suggested that this constitutes a natural mechanism for the disintoxication of phenol. Since only a part of the phenol is excreted in this form, it seems reasonable to suppose that the quantity of sulphate at the disposal of the body was not sufficient to combine with all the phenol, and that the efficiency of the mechanism could, therefore, be increased by the administration of sulphates. Baumann tested this suggestion on two dogs, painting the phenol on the skin. The result was in agreement with the theory, although it was not sufficiently rigorous to

Chloride and water excretion in typhoid fever, with copious diuresis

As the 100 cases of typhoid fever with polyuria reported represent, in some measure, a selected group, the small and diminishing mortality rate is, of course, at the most, suggestive. It is felt, however, that certain conclusions as to the results and usefulness of this mode of treatment, which seems to supply an additional means of combating the toxaemia of the disease, may be submitted with some confidence with the hope that this method of copious water-drinking with its resulting diuresis, may be found by other observers to diminish in some further degree the severity and mortality of typhoid fever in hospital practice. Our experience and conclusions may be summarized as follows: 1. Large quantities of water internally, a gallon or more in twenty-four hours, may easily be taken by typhoid fever patients, if administered in small quantities at frequent and definite intervals. 2. A copious elimination of watery urine at once follows, the degree of polyuria, day by day, closely corresponding to the quantity of fluid ingested. 3. Patients are more comfortable by this mode of treatment and toxic, nervous symptoms are lessened. 4. The mortality, as well as the severity, of typhoid fever, seems to be still further diminished by this method of hydrotherapy employed as an accessory to the cool-bath treatment of the disease.