As a member of that group of which digitalis has so long been the chief, it well deserves attentive consideration.

Sparteinae Sulphas

Sulphate of sparteine. A neutral sulphate of an alkaloid obtained from Scoparius. Occurs in colorless, white, prismatic crystals, or a granular powder, odorless and having a slightly saline and somewhat bitter taste. Very soluble in water and in alcohol.

History and Properties

Sparteine was discovered so long ago as 1856 by Stenhouse, but it was not until 1883 that it was taken up for examination. It is a liquid alkaloid, contains no oxygen, its formula being C30H26N21 and it has strong basic qualities, combining readily with acids to form salts. The sulphate, which is crystal-lizable, dissolves freely in water, while the alkaloid itself is entirely insoluble.

The dose of the sulphate of sparteine is from gr. ss. to gr. ij. This salt crystallizes in rhomboidal plates, and, as it is so readily soluble in water, it can be administered subcutaneously or by the stomach, as circumstances may require.

Actions, Physiological and Therapeutical

The physiological actions of sparteine were first studied by Mills in 1863, and by Fick in 1870, afterward by Rymon in Vulpian's laboratory, by Laborde and Legris, by Gluzinski and others, and its therapeutical applications have been illustrated by Voigt in Nothnagel's clinic, and by Prof. Sée. From these various sources, and from his personal investigations, the author has formulated his conceptions of the real place which sparteine should occupy as a remedy.

The salts of sparteine are bitter, but not irritating to the stomach, and apparently have the tonic action, the power to improve appetite and digestion, common to the bitters. Unlike digitalis, sparteine acts within an hour or two (Laborde, Voigt) after it is taken, the characteristic impression on the heart being made. It more truly deserves the title of "heart-tonic" than any other remedy. Irregularity in rhythm, inequality in the force of the contractions, are almost immediately corrected, and the action is lasting as well as thorough. It is especially in derangement of the motor apparatus of the heart, with weakness and irregularity of the pulse, that sparteine affords relief in an hour or two, when digitalis would require a day or two to accomplish the same result. So small a dose as one half a grain, as a rule, brings about the result above described, and the effect persists twelve to twenty-four hours, although a single dose had been given. The special conditions in which it is most useful are weakness of the right heart and incompetence of its valves, and in lesions and functional derangement of the mitral (see Voigt and others). That the curative results obtained by the use of sparteine are not hampered by gastric disorder is another proof of its superiority to digitalis.

If digitalis is to be administered in cases of mitral disease and prompt action is necessary, sparteine performs a valuable function, for if at once given the heart is relieved, and the relief continues until digitalis has had time to act. Laborde and Legris, Rymon, Gluzinski, and others from the experimental standpoint, and Vulpian, Huchard, Voigt, and others from the clinical, conclude that sparteine is the first of the remedies now available as a "heart-tonic," and as a regulator of the cardiac rhythm when disordered in function merely, and when due to lesions of the heart-muscle or valves.

Sparteine has no "cumulative action" in the sense in which that phrase is applied to digitalis. In summing up their observations Laborde and Legris assert that in all cases of weak heart with asthenia, whether or not organic lesions exist, sparteine is the appropriate remedy, and they do not know of any proper contra-indications, as it agrees well with the stomach, and has no injurious effect on the cere-bro-spinal nerves.