SCIENCE AND THE RACECOURSE
. LABORATORY TESTS FOR “DOPE.” A racehorse was suspected of having been doped. A veterinary surgeon* had taken a sample of his saliva, sealed it In a jar, and sent it to the chemist. A frog had been spreadeagled in the Sorgonnc laboratory on a little apparatus for registering its musculaj contractions^
It was a dramatic moment as Professor Charles Lormand, chemist fo* the French Racing Association, made a solution of the suspected saliva filled his hypodermic needle, and squirted a few drops into the frogs neck. A man’s reputation depend ed on the result of the operation. The frog’s body was grasped by a pair of tiny; tongs. The tongs won attached to • a needle, and this deli cately poised needle rested on a drum of smoked paper. In less than 6v seconds Professor Lormand, who is the most famous chemist and gas ex pert in France, would decide if a certain trainer would be kicked oil the French turf for life, for there is practically no appeal from r lair laboratory test. “Watch the needle now.” he ex claimed as lie started the drum re volving slowly. “The needle veill make a white line on the smoked paper, registering -the frog’s contractions. The frog is extremely sensitive to the “dope 1 used on racing horses, and vve get a more certain reaction than with an ordinary chemical analysis.
“If the beat of the frog’s .nervous system remains normal and the needle follows a straight line xve will acquit honorably the suspected trainer, as we ar'fe sure there is no ‘dope’ in the saliva.
“If, on the other hand, the beast has a violent contraction and the noodle starts zig-zagging wildly across the drum of paper we will have . proof against him that will be accepted by any court of law in France.”
Professor Lormand, who represents the Racing • Association, and Professor Fab re, the representative ot the trainers breathlessly watched the needle.
For thirty seconds it followed a ffra/.ght line. Then it started to wobble a little, and at the fortieth second it began to career wildly from right to left, While the two professors shook their heads sadly.
“That seals his fate, but I will try he stuff on the fish out of curiosity,” Professor Lormand remarked. He took two river minnows from a glass bowl and put each one in a separate carafe of pure wqfer. As the two minnows began disporting themselves he put. in a few drops of the saliva solution from the sus pecV'd horse into the first carafe leaving the second carafe untouched In 30 seconds the -minnow in the first carafe stiffened out and died with fin 3 sticking out straight which s characteristic of poisoning.
“I will try the ultra-violet ray aow.” Professor Lormand remarked. a s he prilled this mysterious ma chine irto place. Every alkaloid has a characteristic color, eve n though it is . often apparently colorless and fugitive, bnt in he light of these rays one can se< x fluorescence, leaving no doubt ot its identity. For example, morphine is generally violet, strychnine blue, caffeine purple, and brucine red.
He puts a drop of the saliva solu lion on a glass plate and pushed h ’nto the machine.
“What is it, Fabre” he asked ’■-nowing perf. c"ly well the answer
“Blue —strychnine,” hid confror calmly replied. “Very strong.” The trick of doping racehorses in France became so widespread two /gars ago that the Racing Association had to act.
The practice was first introduced nto France in 1903, although at tha ■ hue nearly all the American, Eng’islr. and French trainers here gave ■heir horses mild stimulants. 1 Some threw a quart of champagne on their oats just before a race, others gave hura a big drink of whisky, and still others gave their animals a steady diet of kola nuts to excite them.
If the horse was given just the right amount of dope at the right ime he would run as if possessed and someimes they ran far beyond 'he winning post, and the jockeys were unable to stop them. They were often given such a big dose that they died in the stable or in the midst ot a race. After they were doped a few times they became nervous wrecks, and several went absolutely mad.
They often suffered internal hemorrhages on account of their excitement, and were disabled for life. The stuff ru’nrd some, of the best French horses for future races and breeding purposes—and there was nothing more pitiful than a horse ruined by dope. The French Racing Association thereupon decided two years ago to stamp out this scourge for ever, and
it appointed as its chief chenvst Professor Lormand, at the request of whom the association of trainers engaged Professors Fabrei, a wellknown toxicologist, to collaborate with him and represent their interests.
The two professors hav c managed in that time to give doping a deathblow in France, and there are few trainers who try to fool the laboratory any more.
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Shannon News, 28 October 1927, Page 3
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841SCIENCE AND THE RACECOURSE Shannon News, 28 October 1927, Page 3
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