Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Feb.,  1886. 
Tincture  of  Strophanthus. 
101 
ally  to  produce  a  second  1  in  8  percolate,  marked  b  2,  and  a  third,  1 
in  4,  marked  b  3 ;  the  last  two  percolates  are  practically  colorless,  but 
bitter,  and  although  their  specific  gravity  is  the  same  as  the  spirit  used 
in  making  them,  yet  the  marc  is  still  bitter.  The  specific  gravity  of 
the  first  percolate  is  nine  points  higher.  Mixed,  these  three  percolates 
would  produce  a  1  in  20  tincture. 
The  depurated  tincture  b  1,  on  addition  to  water,  of  course  torms 
a  clear  mixture ;  but  tincture  a  only  causes  a  slight  opacity  when  it 
is  mixed  with  water — very  little  more  than  the  same  quantity  of  tinc- 
ture of  orange  peel  would  cause. 
I  also  percolated  a  separate  tincture  of  the  powdered  pericarp  lin- 
ing, 1  in  8  with  rectified  spirit,  marked  d.  It  is  pale  greenish-yellow 
in  color,  has  the  same  but  less  bitter  taste  than  the  tincture  b  1,  and 
is  five  points  lower  in  specific  gravity.  The  marc  left  was  still  bit- 
ter. I  likewise  prepared  a  tincture  of  the  hairs  1  in  8,  with  rectified 
spirit,  marked  c.  It  has  the  yellowish-green  color  of  tincture  a,  and 
has  a  similar  bitter  taste,  although  according  to  Messrs.  Hardy  &  Gal- 
lois  {Pharm.  Jour.,  1877,  p.  756  ;  Am.  Jour.  Ph.,  1877,  p.  402)  the 
hairs  only  contain  ineine,  a  crystalline  principle  which  has  not  the 
same  physiological  action  as  strophanthin  contained  in  the  seeds; 
this  stops  the  heart's  action  when  its  solution  is  injected  into  a  frog, 
which  ineine  does  not. 
I  give  these  results  of  my  experiments,  expecting  to  elicit  expres- 
sion of  opinion  as  to  what  formula  might  eventually  be  adopted.  The 
present  one,  Dr.  Fraser  himself  acknowledges,  produces  a  preparation 
too  concentrated  for  practical  use.  As  the  drug  arrives  with  a  varia- 
ble amount  of  the  pericarp  adhering,  and  this  generally  in  bad  con- 
dition, and  as  the  hairs  are  said  to  possess  different  properties  to  the 
seeds,  I  think  the  seeds  alone  should  still  be  used,  as  they  only  can  be 
relied  upon  to  produce  an  uniform  tincture.  The  other  portions  pos- 
sessing activity  might  be  economized  for  preparing  the  active  princi- 
ple. Care  must  be  taken  in  handling  the  drug  and  its  preparations, 
as  they  act  as  topical  irritants,  to  the  mucous  membrane  particularly. 
Since  writing  the  above  Dr.  Ringer  has  kindly  tried  the  ethereal 
oil  on  frogs  for  me  and  finds  that  although  not  inert  it  does  not 
possess  much  activity,  not  nearly  so  much  as  a  1  per  cent,  solution 
of  the  arrow  poison. 
Mr.  T.  R.  Bradford,  of  University  College,  to  whom  I  gave 
samples,  also  writes  : — 
