220 Professor T. K. Fraser on 



and of the results I had obtained by an examination of the 

 action and cliemical composition of the seed. 



The district in which it is found seems to be a wide 

 one. It is not restricted to Komb^ or to the Sliir^ valley, in 

 Western Africa, where Mr Buchanan's supply was obtained; 

 but it has been stated by travellers to occur also in the 

 Gaboon country, in Guinea, and in Senegambia. 



It is used by the natives as an arrow poison, and is 

 known under the designations of the Kombe poison, and of 

 the Inee, Onarge, or Onage poison. I have not discovered 

 any evidence of its use in any part of Africa as a medicine. 



The part used is the seed, which is ground into a paste, 

 and smeared round the arrow above the barb. From 

 this seed I have separated an active principle, which 

 does not contain nitrogen, which is of the chemical 

 nature of the bodies often termed neutral principles, and 

 which I have named Strophanthin. 



My previous examination of the seed has shown that it 

 is extremely active ; and that its action, like that of 

 digitalis, is exerted chiefly on the muscles. Substances that 

 act on muscle usually concentrate, as it were, their action 

 upon the muscle of the heart. So powerfully is the heart 

 muscle affected by Strophanthus, that when an almost 

 inconceivably dilute solution of a pure extract, a solution 

 for instance of one in ten millions, is passed through the 

 heart of a frog, the contractions of the heart are in a few 

 minutes greatly increased in strength, and made by-and- 

 by to cease. This action constitutes one of the chiel' 

 values of digitalis in heart disease, but Strophanthus is 

 more powerful than digitalis in producing it. 



Having determined this action, I next used Strophan- 

 thus in the treatment of heart disease, and the results 

 have been so remarkably gratifying in their success, that 

 Strophanthus will, I am convinced, become generally used 

 as a remedy in heart disease, and as a diuretic medicine. 



The specimens illustrative of the plant which I owe to 

 Mr Buchanan's kindness are the following: — 



1. Dried and pressed leaves of the plant, which, it will 

 be observed, correspond with the leaves in the 

 specimens of Strophanthus hispidiis contained in 

 the Society's Herbarium. 



