For victims of rheumatoid arthritis impatiently awaiting a boost in the tiny supply of cortisone, there was another slender ray of hope this week. While it might take years to make the hormone from seeds of the over-trumpeted vine Strophanthus sarmentosus (TIME, Aug. 29), a more abundant and more accessible plant has been named as a source of the raw material.
In the Journal of the American Chemical Society, Dr. Russell E. Marker, veteran hormone researcher, reported that botogenin, a substance providing a short cut to one of the 37 stages in the expensive, laborious transformation of ox bile into cortisone, was...
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