At the end of three days (the average time of menstrual discharge0 it flows into the womb and brings the oestrus period to an end. There are two hormones which opposed actions. One hormone produces the characteristic menstrual discharge, while the other hormone bring it to an end. From this fact observed in the animals kingdom we turned to the vegetable kingdom in order to find a plants which exhibits the antisexual characteristics of the Corpus luteum.
This plant is Agnus castus, or Chaste Tree, which was much favoured by monks and nuns in the Middle Ages for the purpose of the depressing of the sexual instincts. The leaves of this plant were infused or eaten raw to produce the effect desired.
To prove that Oestrin dose actually act on plants, a number of young maize plants were plants and were allowed to taken firm root. After a few days the plants were graded by size and a test batch was well watered with a watery solution containing OEstrin. Those plants which received the Estrin solution showed rapid growth of shoots and leaves, and the chlorophyll content of the leaves developed rapidly, whereas the plants which received only the normal watering grew but they were vastly inferior to the hormone-fed plants.
The experiment was now carried further. A batch of white female rats were made sterile by removed of the ovaries. From the date of sterilization no oestrus period was observed but, on the administration of vegetable OEstrin, the normal female characteristics were observed, culminating in a menstruation which, however, cased when OEstrin feeding was withheld. The results of this test proved that plant OEstrin not only acts on plants, but that it has the same physiological action as the OEstrin of the ovary.
The sterile rate were again on a diet containing OEstrin and once more the female characteristics were restored. Now a preparation of Agnus castus was administered to the when they immediately reverted to their sterile condition.
During these test on the rate the Allan-Doisy Test was used for control. It was established that the plant Agnus castus contains a principle which is anti-sexual in its physiological action and to which the mane “Anti-sexual hormone” was given. There are other which exhibit this characteristic, especially the Tiger lily, Lilium tigrinum. It is, therefore, probable that by suitable clinical experiments the value of these two plant hormones can be established and that they can bee used with advantage in sexual disturbances.
Our next investigation ward the study of plants substance which heal plant wounds. These substances were previously thought to be of a resinous character and peculiar to the individual plant, but closer examination showed that not all plants are equally efficient in producing these healing substances. It was found by experiment that plants which possess thick fleshy leaves contain the wound-healing principle in abundance. Such plants, such as Calanchoe, when broken or bruised, exude a fluid which completely covers the wound.
Now, if this wound is observed carefully, a process similar to the granulation of an animal wound is to take place. These plants were then treated with medicines in different pharmaceutical, and especially in homoeopathic, from. Ointments were made having as a basis Lanoline, Vaseline, and also mixtures of Vaseline. In addition our own special form of plant powder was prepared o which the registered name of “Teep” is given.
To distinguish this preparation from any others in the “Teep” series we will call it the “Wound Hormone Teep”. The test was, as in all the forgoing cases, carried out firstly on plants and then on animals. We found that if rapid granulation of a wound is to be obtained, preparations of the Wound Hormone should not be applied in the form of ointments, not even with a Lanoline base, but in the form of powder, preferably in the form of Teep powder.
Here, as in the case of the sexual hormones, the antagonistic principle was sought and found. The plant is Viscum album, the common Mistletoe. It was known to the ancient German tribes who attributed to it very deadly properties. This is evident from the reference made in the Saga of the death of the Sun God, or God of Life, who was killed by an arrow made of Mistletoe. The Mistletoe is a parasitic plant which grows in the wounds in the bark of trees.
The oak seeks to close the wound by a healing principle (hormone), but the Mistletoe, which depends for its existence on the presence of an open would, excretes counter principle which keeps the would open and, therefore, enable the Mistletoe to live. This counter principle or “Anti-Granulating Hormone” of the Mistletoe produces the same effect in the wound off various plants. In animals the wound, if not actually bleeding refuses to heal so long as the active principle of the Mistletoe is present. Fresh wounds bleed without clotting when under the action of this hormone.
According to our policy, no attempt was made to isolate those principles in the pure state but tinctures were made from the fresh plants strictly according to homoeopathic principles. In additions the extraction of the active principles was carried out by macerating the fresh plants in oil in certain cases.
Our next research concerned the reactions of the vegetable vascular system to drugs. It has been found by experiment that the and vascular pressure in a plant can be altered by the addition of certain drugs. A simple illustration is as follows: When a cubic centimetre of a solution of Adrenalin 6x is added to the water in jar containing the roots and cut stem of a plant, the top of which is connected to a U-shaped tube, the bottom of which is filled with Mercury, the Adrenalin immediately produces an alteration produces an alteration in the pressure of the plant sap which is registered by the alteration of the level of Mercury in the arms of U-shaped tube.
From a series of tests it was found that drugs which alter the blood-pressure in animals act in a similar way on the pressure of the sap in the vascular system of plants.
Concurrently with these experiments tests were carried out with plants which exhibit a high internal temperature. Their temperature was accurately determined by means of an instrument of great sensitiveness. This instrument which is so constructed as to measure both the external and the internal heat showed in one instance that the internal heat of the plant differed by 30 degrees from the atmospheric from fevers when given preparations of these plants show a remarkable resistance to high temperatures and the prognosis of such cases, if these plants are used, is more favourable than would otherwise be the case.
In conclusion the work so far accomplished this year is but a preliminary to that vast and unexplored field of research into plant hormones. What has been accomplished is the establishment of the identity of the vital principles of plant and animal hormones and of the therapeutic value of plant hormones in cases in which previously only hormones of animal origin had been used.
