Am-o?"ri8?9harm'}    British  Pharmaceutical  Conference.  533 
contained  the  whole  of  the  active  principle,  strophanthin.  An  alcoholic 
extract  obtained  after  removal  of  fat  by  ether  amounted  to  8*94  per  cent,  of  the 
original  weight  of  the  seeds  and  it  was  estimated  to  consist  of  63  367  per  cent, 
of  im  ure  strophanthin,  16'275  per  cent,  of  mucilage  and  14-542  per  cent,  of 
resin.  The  extract  was  the  product  of  three  successive  percolations,  the  first 
with  10  parts  of  rectified  spirit  and  the  other  two  with  5  parts  each.  It  was 
found  that  the  first  percolation  removed  7'9  per  cent,  of  the  8-94  per  cent,  of 
extrai  t  obtained,  and  that  it  was  very  much  richer  in  strophanthin  than  the 
products  of  the  succeeding  percolations,  nearly  all  the  active  principle  being 
extracted  by  the  ten  parts  of  spirit  and  in  a  more  satisfactory  state  than  in  the 
latter  portions  of  the  extract.  Further  experiments  showed  that  most  of  the 
coloring  matter,  resin  and  mucilage  is  derived  from  the  testa  and  most  of  the 
strophanthin  and  oil  from  the  cotyledons  and  embryos.  Treatment  of  the  dry 
extract  as  well  as  of  an  aqueous  solution  with  reagents  failed  to  indicate  the 
presence  of  an  alkaloid,  but  the  reduction  of  Fehling's  solution  by  solutions  of 
the  extract  in  dilute  acids  gave  evidence  of  a  glucoside.  This  action  was  satis- 
factorily connected  with  a  substance  that  appeared  in  well-formed  crystals 
during  the  evaporation  of  non-acidulated  watery  solutions  of  the  extract,  and 
which  was  identified  as  the  active  principle  strophanthin.  In  fact  it  was  found 
thar  strophanthin  is  readily  decomposed  by  weak  solutions  of  acids,  yielding 
glucose  and  a  body  that  has  been  named  "  strophanthidin,"  which  crystallizes 
so  readily  that  it  is  thought  that  its  production  in  an  extract  by  treatment  with 
an  acid  might  be  taken  as  an  indication  of  the  amount  of  active  principle  ori- 
ginally contained  therein.  Strophanthin  is  difficult  to  separate;  but  it  was 
obtained  pure  by  a  somewhat  tedious  process  depending  upon  the  formation 
of  a  tannic  acid  compound  and  subsequent  decomposition  by  lead  oxide,  and 
it  yielded  upon  analysis  results  corresponding  with  the  formula  C16H2608. 
Strophanthidin,  the  product  of  decomposition  of  the  glucoside,  is  described  as 
having  an  intensely  bitter  taste  and  a  neutral  reaction,  and  as  being  very 
slightly  soluble  in  water,  moderately  soluble  in  cold  and  freely  in  warm  rectified 
spirit.  It  is  extremely  active  as  a  pharmacological  agent,  with  symptoms 
closely  resembling  those  of  strophanthin.  Strophanthin  was  also  found  to  be 
present  in  the  comose  appendages  and  the  seeds,  the  pericarp  of  the  follicles, 
the  leaves,  branches,  stem  and  root.  No  alkaloid  was  detected,  but  in  the 
lead  precipitate  from  an  aqueous  solution  of  the  alcoholic  extract  a  compound 
was  found,  of  strongly  acid  reaction  and  freely  soluble  in  water,  to  which  the 
name  of  "kombic  acid"  has  been  given. 
On  Narceine. — Recent  statements  as  to  the  extent  to  which  commercial  nar- 
ceine  is  affected  in  its  therapeutic  action  by  contamination  with  other  alkaloids, 
together  with  the  paper  by  Meick  on  chemically  pure  narceine,  seem  to  have 
constituted  the  raison  d'etre  of  the  next  paper,  by  Mr.  Dott,  on  Narceine  and  its 
Salts.  Mr.  Dott  is  of  opinion  that  considering  the  facility  with  which  nar- 
ceine can  be  separated  from  morphine  and  codeine  it  is  highly  improbable  that 
any  manufacturer  would  send  out  the  alkaloid  so  contaminated  ;  but  even  sup- 
posing that  some  morphine  and  codeine  were  present  in  the  narceine  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  conceive  how  they*  would  affect  its  action.  With  respect  to  Merck's 
paper,  Mr.  Dott  points  out  also  that  the  tenacity  with  which  narceine  retains 
hydrochloric  acid  had  been  previously  recorded  by  Dr.  Wright,  who  obtained 
pure  narceine  from  the  basic  hydrochloride  by  converting  it  first  into  sulphate. 
