Observations on reputed dysentery remedies / by T.A. Genry and H.C. Brown.

  • Thomas Anderson Henry
Date:
[1924]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on reputed dysentery remedies / by T.A. Genry and H.C. Brown. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    [ Reprinted from the TRANSACTIONS vfthe Royal Society Of Tropical Medicine and Ilyyie r°l- XF7/*i No*- 0 and 7,pp. 378-3X5. 17th January, 1924.] OBSERVATIONS ON REPUTED DYSENTERY REMEDIES. BY T. A. HENRY. D.Sc.. Director of the Wellcome Chemical Renearch Laboratories. AND H. C. BROWN, C.I.E., M.B., B.Ch., Major, I.M.S. (Retd.), Wellcome Bureau of Scientific Research. Though emetine is recognised as an efficient remedy for amoebic dysentery, it is well known that many cases fail to respond to its action. Attempts to deal with these by altering the form in which the drug is administered have met with some success, but there remains a considerable residuum of cases in which emetine is useless, no matter in what form it may be used1. In con¬ sidering the possibility of finding a new remedial agent, the first line of enquiry to suggest itself was whether, using emetine as a basis, some new product could not be developed from this alkaloid which would be worth trial. Unfortunately, little is yet known regarding the chemistry of emetine, and trials of the alkaloids related to it have shown that these are less effective amoebicidal agents than emetine itself, so that it is not possible at present to find a basis in this direction for the synthesis of products likely to be of value in the treatment of amoebic dysentery. In these circumstances it seemed to the authors desirable to examine various drugs which enjoy, in the countries in which they occur, some reputation as remedies for this disease, in the hope of finding among these a useful drug, or at least discovering some clue to the kind of molecular structure, which might be promising for further work. Among these drugs are Monsonia ovata and Bhyncosia adenodes, both used in South Africa, and two species of Brucea, viz., B. abyssinica and B. sumatrana, employed in Abyssinia and Malaya respectively. These four drugs have been examined chemically already without disclosing the presence of any constituent to which their alleged amoebicidal value could be ascribed. Thus Maberley2 isolated from M. ovata a product entericin to which he attributed the anti-dysenteric action of the drug, but “ entericin ” is so ill- defined that it would be difficult for anyone to prepare it again. In the case of Brucea species, Power, Lees and Sal way* isolated amorphous hitter substances, but trials of these on free-living protozoa in the course of the present work showed that they were inactive either alone or in the presence of alkali. Similarly, the present authors have exhaustively examined the bark of B. adenodes without finding any well-defined active substance other than the tannin to be referred to later. The authors have, therefore, tried to combine biological and chemical methods in the hope ol being able to select, from the considerable number of such drugs available, any which seemed promising enough for detailed chemical examination. I he combined method used is as follows :— The finely ground drug was exhausted with boiling alcohol, the extract