Concepts on the pathogenesis of asthma have changed considerably during the past few
years. In the early part of this century, experimentalists were greatly impressed with the
asthmalike symptoms produced in animals by drugs, such as muscarine, pilocarpine, and
physostigmine. Atropine, hyoscyamine, and chloroform abolished these effects, and for
many years, these substances were used to treat asthma attacks. The classic work on
histamine by Sir Henry Dale and other investigators suggested a clear interrelationship …