Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-08-19
TESTING DRUGS ON ANIMALS.
Dogs Used to Ascertain the Strength
of HaSheesh.

Dogs Used to Ascertain the Strength
| of HaSheesh.
| From the New Orleans Times Democrat.
| You've heard the theatrical expression,
| trying it on a dog" said local represen-
| tative of a great manufacturing drug house.
1T means an experimental performance of
| a new play in some small city. If the dog.
otherwise the small city, shows no great
symptoms of distress they venture the
| thing in New York. We'll, in our line of
| business we frequently try it on dog,
also on a frog, rat, rooster, a guinea
pig and other animals too numerous to
mention. Our trials are literal, not f1gura-
| tive. We make them to ascertain the
strength of certain drugs, which, for some
reason other, defy chemical analysis.
In such cases we resort to what is called
a physiological test. Suppose, for instance,
we want to find out the strength of a sam
pie of digitalis. which, if in good condition.
has stimulating effect on the heart. The
experts on the staff of the laboratory at
our works force a drop of the stuff into
the stomach of a small frog, which is
then placed in delicate machine called a
kymograDh that records its heartbeats on
a strip of paper. The digitalis may be per-
fcctly dead and inert and it may be strong
and active-no chemist could tell the diff
ference-but the kymograph gets at the
truth with infalible certainty. and the sam
pie is graded accordingly. The frogs used
are little fellows not over two inches long
and they are rather hard to get. Some
time ago we sent the house consignment
from New Orleans, but they proved to be
too large. Why do we use such small ones?
Because it takes less of the drug to affect
them. It's merely matter of economy.
Some of the other tests are still more
curious" continued the drug man, land
none queerer than that of ergot. To as
certain its active properties a small guam
| tity is injected into a full grown rooster
he 6rtI iC 70 "a mr. ctr ofh 10
comb of the fowl soon begins to turn blue
and eventually becomes almost black. The
power of the particular sample on trial
| is indicated by the deepness of the discolor-
alton. This test Is the only reliable one
known and is exceedingly valuable, be-
! cause ergot has a strange trick of occa-
| sionally losing all its medicinal properties
without showing the slightest change in
| general appearance. 'Hasheesh, which has
| figured so extensively in romances of the
orient. is known scientifically as Cannabis
| 1ndica. 1t is tested on dogs. When the
| drug is all right the dog soon begins to get
| keels over and dreams dreams. The neces-
| sity Of testing hasheesh grows out of a
| very singular fact. AS most people know,
| 1T is made from the blossom of Indian
/ hemp but it is only the unfertilized female
/ flower that has any narcotic properties.
| The male flowers and the seed-bearing fe-
! male flowers are absolutely valueless. but
all three look alike to the naked eye So
| does the tincture prepaI ed from them, and,
| like the other drugs mentioned, it doesn t
| yield to analysis. These tests will give a
] fair idea of the modern method of getting
/ at facts about medicines. They are only
1 a few out of many. Altogether, l sup
pose that upward of a dozen different ami
| mails are used, each selected because of its
| sensitiveness to some special preparation.
| Occasionally the sentimentalists raise a
wall over the poor guinea pigs and white
| rats and the innocent frogs that are sac
| rificed to science but If it wasn't for the
| help of these creatures would have to
| fall back on the Old-fashioned method of
| distinguishing toadstools from mushrooms.
| Cook them and eat them was the for
mula, and if they don't kill you they are
| mushrooms"