532  British  Pharmaceutical  Conference.  {Am'o^imaTm' 
of  water  intended  for  analysis  should  be  left  in  contact  with  the  ordinary  ser- 
vice pipe  for  twenty-four  hours. 
Strychnine  Vermin  Killers  — Mr.  A.  H.  Allen  gave. the  results  of  the  examina- 
tion of  a  number  of  samples  of  vermin  killer  obtained  from  different  sources. 
These  appeared  to  show  considerable  variation  in  the  absolute  and  relative 
quantities  of  strychnine  they  contained.  The  principal  interest  of  the  paper 
lay  in  a  suggestion  as  to  the  use  of  pigments  for  the  coloration  of  such 
powders,  which  in  those  examined  were  ultramarine,  prussian  blue  and 
carmine.  Mr.  Allen  is  of  opinion  that  a  preferable  substance  would  be  found 
in  chrome  green,  or  green  oxide  of  chromium,  principally  on  the  ground  of  its 
great  stability.  Further,  he  thought  arsenical  fly  papers  should  be  impreg- 
nated with  some  soluble  coloring  matter,  which  would  color  water  in  which 
they  are  placed,  and  for  this  purpose  he  suggested  indigo  carmine,  or  sul- 
phonated  indigo  might  be  used. 
On  a  Scale  of  Small  Residues. — In  washing  precipitates  or  exhausting  drugs  by 
percolation  it  often  becomes  important  to  be  able  to  estimate  the  amount  of 
solid  matter  that  the  solvent  is  extracting.  With  a  view  to  aiding  the  judg- 
ment Mr.  Proctor  has  constructed  a  scale  of  standards  for  comparison  consist- 
ing of  the  residues  of  the  evaporation  on  glass  slides  of  drops  of  liquid  con- 
taining from  one  millionth  to  one  thousandth  of  a  grain  of  solid  matter.  The 
materials  selected  are  calcium  sulphate,  potassium  nitrate,  gum  acacia  and  gum 
tragacanth.  The  lower  dilutions  are  made  with  water,  but  for  the  higher 
dilutions  spirit  is  used  in  order  to  avoid  vitiation  of  results  by  the  fixed  matter 
present  even  in  distilled  water. 
On  Strophanthus. — Mr.  Thomas  Christy  gave  the  results  of  observations  on 
various  parcels  of  strophanthus  seeds  received  by  him  since  1878,  and  of  plants 
grown  from  some  of  them.  So  far  as  could  be  gathered  his  opinion  coincides 
with  that  already  expressed  by  Professor  Fraser,  that  seeds  received  under  the 
name  "  komb6,"  although  differing  in  some  minor  respects  from  "hispidus" 
seeds,  are  like  them  referable  to  Strophanthus  hispidus.  The  seeds  of  "  Strophan- 
thus glabrus  of  Gaboon  "  were  stated  to  yield  a  "  crystallizable  alkaloid,"  but  if 
this  be  correct  it  will  be  apparent  from  Professor  Fraser's  results  that  they 
differ  in  this  respect  from  the  seeds  of  S.  hispidus.  Another  variety  of  seeds  was 
referred  to  under  the  name  Strophanthus  minor  (B),  "very  small  in  size,  blunt 
at  one  end  and  having  a  spike  at  the  other,"  thought  to  be  suggestive  of  the 
appellation  '•  turtle  strophanthus,"  which  appears  to  have  contained  little  active 
principle.  A  number  of  specimens  were  shown  to  illustrate  the  great  diversity 
in  leaf  presented  by  plants  grown  from  seeds  received  in  the  same  parcel. 
On  Strophanthus. — The  next  paper  read  may  be  looked  upon  as  one  of  the 
most  important — as  it  was  certainly  the  most  elaborate — brought  under  the 
notice  of  the  Conference  at  the  Newcastle  meeting.  It  consisted  of  a  resumS  of 
recent  work  done  by  Dr.  T.  K.  Fraser  upon  the  chemistry  of  strophanthus 
seeds,  and  appeared  to  be  a  continuation  or  development  of  the  paper  read  by 
him  before  the  Royal  Society  of  Edinburgh  a  few  months  since  and  reported  in 
The  Pharmaceutical  Journal  (Feb.  16,  p.  660),  in  which  he  dealt  principally  with 
the  botany  of  this  new  and  important  drug.  In  the  present  paper  the  results 
obtained  by  treatment  of  the  triturated  dried  seeds  with  petroleum  ether, 
ethylic  ether,  water  and  rectified  spirit,  are  recorded,  but  for  the  purposes  of 
this  note  detailed  reference  need  only  be  made  to  the  alcoholic  extract,  since  it 
