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A very important paper on Saponins, translated by Dr. Walter J. Billing, is 
by Prof. Rudolph Kobert.* 
It contains a definition of a Saponin, and gives a warning as to the ignorant 
use of the term. Prof. Kobert deals with methods of preparation, chemical 
properties, elementary composition, decomposition, and notes of some plants which 
contain Saponins (including some of which we have congeners in Australia, and, 
in the case of Entada scandens and ^giceras ma jus, tbe actual species). 
It will interest many Australians (although the subject does not come under 
the purview of a " Forest Flora ") that the secretion -of the poison glands of 
venomous snakes (Ophiotoxin of Faust) is a saponin. 
Prof. Kobert also deals with the physical properties, pharmacological 
properties, therapeutical uses of saponins, and ends with a valuable list of references 
to literature. 
An adequate chemical and physiological research on the saponin-bearing 
trees and other plants of Australia, particularly the indigenous species, is one of the 
desiderata which, if people realised its importance, scientific men would be at once 
commissioned to undertake. 
" Saponins ; their properties, composition and nseg." Pharm. Journ., vol. Ixxxvi, 244 and 293 (25th February 
nd4th March, 1911). 
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