( 343 ) 



CONTENTS. 





PAGE 







PAGE 







D. Action on Heart and Blood-vessels, 



388 



343 





E. Action on Lymph Hearts, 



453 



a, 361 





F. Action on Respiration, 



454 



379 



E. 



cplanation of Plates VIII. -XXIII., . 



455 



XVI. — Strophantus hispidus : its Natural History, Chemistry, and Pharmacology. 

 By Thomas R. Fraser, M.D., F.R.S., F.R.S.E., F.R.C.P.E., Professor of Materia 

 Medica in the University of Edinburgh. 



Part II.— Pharmacology. (Plates VIIL-XXITI.) 



(Read 3rd June 1889). 



G. Pharmacological Action — 



A. General Action, .... 



B. Action on Cerebro-Spinal Nervous System, 



C. Action on Skeletal Muscles, . 



C— PHARMACOLOGICAL ACTION. 

 A. General Action. 



In former papers on the pharmacological action of Strophanthus, dating from 1869, I 

 selected for description, from the considerable number of experiments that had been 

 made, merely those experiments which sufficed to illustrate the general features of the 

 action, and especially such effects as seemed likely to form a basis for the application of 

 Strophanthus to the treatment of disease. 



I had intended to have followed, at no distant date, these preliminary and somewhat 

 fragmentary notices by a more complete description of the pharmacological action, for 

 which, indeed, nearly all the required experimental data had several years ago been 

 obtained ; but unavoidable circumstances prevented this intention from being fulfilled. 

 In this part of the present paper the fuller description will be given ; and if any excuse 

 were required for doing so, it may perhaps be found in the circumstance that the anti- 

 cipation of the therapeutic value of Strophanthus has been amply confirmed by the 

 important position now occupied by it as a therapeutic agent. 



It has been shown in Part I. that while many of the constituent portions of the 

 Strophanthus plant contain the active principle, strophanthin, this principle is most 

 abundantly present in the seeds. It occurs in the seeds along with substances that are 

 of little pharmacological interest, such as albumen and mucilage, and also with other 

 substances that frequently possess active properties, such as resin and fixed oil. The 

 resin has not as yet been examined. 



VOL. XXXVI. PART II. (NO. 16). 3 H 



