Gelsemium : a study that embodies the recent work of L. E. Sayre together with fragments of a paper read by him before the American Pharmaceutical Association, Richmond, Virginia, 1910.

  • Sayre, Lucius E. (Lucius Elmer), 1847-1925
Date:
1911
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Gelsemium : a study that embodies the recent work of L. E. Sayre together with fragments of a paper read by him before the American Pharmaceutical Association, Richmond, Virginia, 1910. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    GELSEMIUM AND ITS ACTIVE CON- STITUENTS.* It is generally conceded by the medical profession that Gel- semium is one of the most important drugs of our materia medica, and yet, it is interesting to note, there is some confusion regard- ing its action. As a consequence there must be some uncertainty and lack of confidence in its therapeutical application. Much of this arises from ignorance of its chemical constitution. If one knows exactly the nature of the chemical constituents of a given drug, he can better comprehend its therapeutic action, more in- telligently apply it, and with more confidence select from its various preparations—and thus obtain more definite results. Not until chemists informed practitioners of the nature of the con- stituents of aconite, showing, among other things, that in the drug there existed not only aconitine, but other possibly antag- onistic principles, and that the important alkaloid, aconitine, was quite susceptible to hydrolysis, was it quite possible for phy- sicians to prescribe its preparations satisfactorily. A closer study of the constituents of Gelsemium, in like manner, promises to yield the same kind of beneficial result. Gelsemium has seemed to have, in the hands of many physicians, two different specific actions; the one, if not antagonistic, seems to interfere with, or interpose, the action of the other. One of these actions may be characterized as a muscular paralytic action through the spinal cord, and the other a circulatory depressant action through the vagus center, slowing the heart and lowering blood pressure. It is this latter action for which the drug is highly prized. It acts, in this heart reduction and in this reduction of blood press- ure, quite differently from aconite, and we are inclined to think » more satisfactorily if the proper principles of the drug are utilized. It has not been determined exactly what are the specific ac- tions of the different principles of Gelsemium. This is due partly to the fact that they have not been separated and thoroughly purified—the different principles are so apt to combine that their entire separation, in the state of purity, is quite difficult. When these prince ples have been isolated and purified, and their physi- ological action studied, physicians will better know when and how to employ the drug and select its preparatigns. The present paper will endeavor to throw some light upon the organic principles of this interesting drug, and, in a prelim- inary way, to discuss their physiological action—thus paving the way for future work. *Some of the material in this article was embodied in a paper read before the American Pharmaceutical Association, Richmond, Va., 1910, and will appear
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