542 STROPHANTHUS 



DOSES, etc. Of the powdered leaves, horses take grs. x. 

 to grs. xxx. ; cattle, 3 SS - ^ 3J- > sheep and pigs, grs. v. to 

 grs. x. ; dogs, gr. i. to grs. iv., in bolus or pill. These doses 

 may be administered daily for a week, and are advantage- 

 ously conjoined with potassium iodide, caffeine, or arsenic. 

 Digitalis and digitalin are cumulative, and care should be 

 exercised in their administration. It is preferable to begin 

 with full doses and gradually diminish the quantity. The 

 infusion is made by digesting for fifteen minutes 60 grains 

 of dried leaves with 20 ounces of distilled water. The 

 tincture is made by maceration and subsequent percola- 

 tion of 2J ounces dried leaves with one pint alcohol (60 per 

 cent.), B.P. It contains 54J grains to the fluid ounce, is 

 about sixteen times the strength of the infusion, and when 

 standardised is the most suitable preparation for cardiac 

 cases. Horses and cattle take f3ii to f3iv- 5 sheep, f 3ss. 

 to f3j. ; dogs, TT\ij. to H\xxx. 



In commerce four varieties of digitalin are met with 

 (1) Homolle's, or French ; (2) the German ; (3) Nativelle's ; 

 and (4) digitalin (Kiliani). One-twelfth grain digitalin is 

 equal to 15 J grains of the powdered leaf, and the dose for 

 the horse is gr. T ^ to gr. J ; for the dog, gr. -^ to gr. 3^. 

 The several preparations are administered by the mouth. 

 Even when diluted they are apt to irritate if given 

 hypodermically or intratracheally. They are not always 

 of uniform strength. For hypodermic or intratracheal 

 injection the physiologically standardised Digitalone should 

 be used. 



STROPHANTHUS 



The dried ripe seeds of Strophanthus kombe, freed from the 

 awns (B.P.). Nat. Ord. Apocynaceae. 



The ripened follicles contain upwards of a hundred oval 

 acuminate seeds, about three-fifths of an inch long and 

 one-sixth of an inch broad, covered with silky hairs ; odour 

 characteristic, taste very bitter. They contain 8 to 10 per 

 cent, of an active, bitter, crystalline glucoside, strophan- 

 thin, which is soluble in water and rectified spirit, insoluble 



