BENZYL BENZOATE: THE STORY OF A PROMISING RESEARCH IN THERAPY

So many of the procedures still employed in presentday therapy are veiled in the mysteries of traditional effects or empiric judgments that there is fascination in the story of any drug or remedial measure that has a logical demonstration of pharmacologic potency in its history. Although the benzyl esters have been known only a short time in medicine, the possibilities of their usefulness in a rational way in certain fields of practice is becoming apparent. Benzyl benzoate has already been accepted for publication in New and Nonofficial Remedies, of the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry. The suggestion of the applicability of the benzyl esters in therapy arose from Macht's studies of the opium alkaloids. These investigations disclosed the fact that whereas opium and its alkaloids exert their most marked effects on the central nervous system, they also have unmistakable influence on peripheral structures, notably the smooth muscle organs.

A systematic