Tranquilizing Agents

Abstract

IN the past two years certain new drugs, which for want of a better term have been called tranquilizing agents, have appeared. These substances, unlike the barbiturates and other soporific drugs, are not depressant to the higher cortical centers but apparently act through what appears to be an alteration of the functions of lower centers, perhaps in the region of the hypothalamus. The two most effective tranquilizers are Rauwolfia serpentina and chlorpromazine. R. serpentina, a drug known to Indian physicians for many years and successfully employed by them to quiet their excited and hypertensive patients, has a long history . . .