One cubic centimeter of the emulsion of the total resinous extract (strength 1 in 5) was injected into the ear of a rabbit; the animal died immediately. Another rabbit was injected in the same manner with one half cubic centimeter of the same preparation. The animal immediately stretched out and became rigid, or appeared to be paralyzed, but after several minutes these symptoms lessened and after about five minutes the rabbit appeared normal as far as activity was concerned. As soon as the rabbit had recovered a second injection of one quarter of a cubic centimeter of the same preparation was injected in the same manner into the same animal. The same symptoms were produced and with equal intensity, but ten minutes passed before the animal again became conscious. For several minutes after recovery the animal appeared somewhat drowsy and stupid but it soon regained its former activity.
One half cubic centimeter of the iron acid emulsion (strength 1 in 7) was injected into the ear of a rabbit. Immediate paralysis and apparent anaesthesia set in lasting very pronouncedly for eight minutes. The rabbit’s head was drawn backwards and its legs stiffened giving symptoms similar to strychnine poisoning but they did not persist. When a second injection of one quarter cubic centimeter was given to the same animal, the same symptoms were produced, the animal remaining under the influence of the injection for about fifteen minutes.
The iron acid injection was repeated on another rabbit with the same pronounced symptoms of strychnine poisoning but the effect lasted only about ten minutes.
One half cubic centimeter of the barium acid emulsion (strength 1 in 7) was injected into the ear vein of a rabbit. The animal uttered several loud cries and after moving several feet it became spastic and went into a sort of a stupor, beginning to come out of it after ten minutes. As soon as the animal recovered, a second injection of one quarter cubic centimeter was made. The animal again uttered loud cries and then it went into a stupor, but it was not spastic. This lasted approximately ten minutes. The animal did not completely recover until about twenty minutes.
Thinking that the action might be largely mechanical and that the symptoms produced were from the emulsion itself and not from the effect of the material that was emulsified, an emulsion of olive oil was used in a like manner. This olive oil emulsion was made in approximately the same consistency as the resinous emulsions, and one cubic centimeter was injected into the ear vein of a rabbit. No visible effects followed this injection during the one hour’s time the rabbit was under observation.
One cubic centimeter intraperitoneal injections of the total resinous extract emulsion and the same amount of the iron acid emulsion were made into rabbits. During the three hours the animals were under observation no symptoms were produced. This may have been due to the extreme slowness of absorption as compared with the rate of elimination from the circulation.
Dr. J. F. Illingworth states as the result of his observations while in the Fiji Islands that the kava beverage even when taken in large amounts, does not apparently affect the brain to an extent as to cause the drinker to appear as if under the influence of alcohol, but he appears as if the muscles from the hips downward are paralyzed. These symptoms last for about half an hour, at the end of which time the person is perfectly able to walk home.
In general the active constituent of any drug produces a more pronounced but more fugitive effect than the crude drug itself, and one might therefore expect more violent reactions from the isolated active constituents of the Ava then from the crude infusion. Judging from the negative results obtained from the injection of the olive oil emulsion, it is probable that the physiological effects described above following the intravenous injections of the various preparations were not mechanical but must be ascribed to the action of the constituents of the Ava.
CONCLUSION.
The crystalline product consists, largely of methysticin, the methyl ester of methysticinic acid. In addition to this there is about five percent of the free methysticinic acid present.