Abstract
An attempt is made to determine, whether Or not the fruit of the ground-cherry (Physalis Alkekengi L.), which have been popularly used in Japan in cases of fever or heart disease, actually possess any efficacy that may be utilized in treatment.
The aqueous extract of the fruit, When given ia large doses into the stomach of the rabbit, causes at first a quickening of the respiration, followed by depression, twitching and convulsions, and at last death from the almost simultaneous failure of the circulation and respiration. But in small quantities, which are not sufficient to bring about any perceptible symptoms in the normal animal, it induces a marked fall of the body temperature in the fevered animal. This action appears slowly and disappears much more slowly. All these symptoms caused by the extract are to be attributed to the oxalates contained in it.
The extract freed from the oxalates acts on the excised heart of the frog so as to increase the amplitude both of the systole and the diastole, and on the leg vessels so as to contract it. Injection of this extract into a vein of the rabbit is followed by a slight, but persistent, rise of the blood pressure through its action on the heart and vessels. This action is due to two components of the extract, which differ in their physical character, the One being soluble in ether and insoluble in water, and the other the reverse.
