Evening star., 1937-10-15
BY THOMAS 4. HENRY.

only one-third as poisonous, 1t was
announced before the Chemical 30
ciety Of Washington meeting ut the
George Warrington University Medi-
cal School last night by Drs. Sanford
M. Rosenthal and Hugo Bauer Of the
Public Health Service.
Since its introduction in Germany
about two years ago under the trade
name Of prontosil, sulphanalamide has
steadily increased in importance to
one Of the greatest medical discoveries
Of all time. 1t apparently acts Is
specific against . considerable group
Of bacterial infections which hitherto
have taken many lives. Since It's in
PRODUCTION chemists everywhere have
been trying to increase its potency by
juggling the atoms in its molecule.
The linkage Of two molecules, Dr..
Rosenthal said last night, Is the only
move to date that has brought about
a real improvement. Actually. he ex-
planned, it may be considered Is six
times as potent as the original prod
uct, since three times aS much can
be given without exceeding the toler-
ance level.
Chemistry Is Explained.
The chemistry Of the new compound
was explained by DR.. Bauer, q German
expatriate, who has just joined the
stan of the Public Health Service. For
many years he was the chemical direc-
tor OF the great German Speierhaus,
from which have come some Of the
greatest pharmacological advances of
modern times, and he was assistant to
Wilhelm Erlich, the discoverer Of the
chemical treatment for syphilis.
The experiments here, it was
stressed, have been carried out with
mice, but presumably the same results
will carry over with human beings.
Mice can be protected with the new
compound against inoculations with
spinal meningitis bacteria a million
times greater than ordinarily would kill
| the animal.
Curiously enough, the new COM
pound seems to have no effect at all
against pneumonia. Various strains
Of pneumococci, the organisms re-
sponsible for this disease, are killed
by the original prontosil, but the
enect Is quite weak: A dose large
enough to cure the pneumonia might
kill the patient. The Public Health
Service now recommends that a dose
up to the limits of tolerance be given,
combined with specific pneumonia
serum. Early this year the National
Institute of Health chemists and
| pharmacologists set about juggling
the prontosil molecule around in an
effort to f1nd something more potent
against pneumonia.
Up TO date. DR.. Rosenthal said, about
every move made has only resulted in
making the drug either less poison
ous for the pneumococci or more pois-
onous for man. But in the course of
these experiments the six-fold potency
against other infections of the dou-
BILE compound has been discovered.
The pneumonia work has now taken
another turn, with more promise of
success but has not reached the stage
where anything can be announced.
A few weeks ago one preparation
showed some action against chorio-
meningitis, . newly discovered dis
ease closely aping spinal meningitis
but which is caused by one OF those
mysterious, ultra-microscopic organ
isms known as filterable viruses against
which In the past there has been no
SPECIFIC treatment. This aroused hope
that some other closely related CON-
pound might be effective against in
fluenza, which also has been demon
strated to be an ultravirus disease.
Scores Of compounds have been tried
70 date without any effect.
Stronger Compound Impossible.
| Apparently. DR.. Rosenthal pointed
out, the road is closed to securing more
potency by linking more sulphanala-
mide molecules together. When three
molecules are tied into the package
instead Of two the compound becomes
more poisonous and loses all its po-
tency against bacteria.
Last nights meeting, the first Of the
year, was devoted to outstanding dis
coveries in Washington chemical labo-
ratories during the past few months.
Among the work described was that of
separating the two hormones Of the
posterior lobe Of the pituitary gland,
one OF which raises blood pressure and
other contracts the muscles Of the
uterus so that 1t is an invaluable
agent in obstetrics, ~ Dr. Vincent du
Vigneaud and his assistants at George
Washington University Medical School.
Neither OF these extremely powerful
chemicals ever have been isolated In
pure form. The George Washington
chemists are working nth an electrical
device which separates the two sub
stances according to their different
electrical constitutions.
During the last year, DR.. Du Wig
neaud said, the pituitary glands Of
$4,000 cattle have been used in this
work. One Of the pituitary hormones,
he explained. now costs approxi-
mately $4,000 . gram At drug store
prices and the other about $4,000 q
gram. It is the hope of the George
Washington chemists that the new
AAcoA'OA VI CCPdIAtlOu 1IOW Tic raw
glands will not only reduce this cost
greatly viii result in . purer prod
uct. To date little more than q start
has been made.
DR.. M. K. Sullivan Of GEORGETOWN
University announced new tests for
the presence in the human body Of q
substance known as guanadine, one
Of the end products Of the metabo-
lism Of protein foods, which when
present in unusual quantities produces
an intoxication which causes atrophy
of the muscles and paralysis. One
form OF this is paralysis of the muscles
Of the throat which usually ends
fatally.
The new tests promise to be an in
valuable aid in medical diagnosis.
Up to date. DR.. Sullivan said, the tests
for guanadine have been crude and
very uncertain, 50 that physicians
have been unable to diagnose the