422  Investigations  on  Strophantus.  {^Sms™" 
refraction  of  the  oils.  As  a  result  of  their  examination,  it  follows 
that  the  quantities  of  solid  acids  and  of  alkali  required  for  saponifica- 
tion are  appreciably  equal  for  all  three  oils,  but  the  sp.  gr.  of  olive  oil 
at  100°  is  less  than  that  of  sesame  and  cotton  oils  by  about  0*005,  the 
index  of  refraction  of  the  former  is  also  somewhat  less  than  those  of 
the  latter.  But  the  most  marked  difference  is  observed  in  the  points 
of  fusion  and  solidification  of  the  resultant  acids,  for  those  from  olive 
oil  melt  at  24 — 27°,  and  begin  to  solidify  at  17-5°,  whilst  those  from 
cotton  and  sesame  oils  melt  at  36 — 40°,  and  solidify  at  34 — 30°  and 
34—32°  respectively.— Jour.  Chem.  £oc.,May  1887,  535,  536. 
INVESTIGATIONS  ON  STROPHANTHUS. 
From  a  paper  by  Mr.  Wm.  Elborne,  published  in  Phar.  Jour,  and 
Trans.,  March  12,  1887,  p.  743,  we  make  the  following  extracts : 
Strophanthus  was  introduced  by  Prof.  Fraser,  his  researches  having 
reference  to  the  seeds  of  the  Kombe  arrow  poison  (See  Amer.  Jour. 
Phar.,  1886,  p.  405).  From  these  seeds  Fraser  isolated  a  crystalline 
bitter  glucosicle,  which  he  named  strophanthin.  From  Strophanthus 
hispidus,  DeCand.,  Hardy  and  Gallois  subsequently  isolated  a  crys- 
talline bitter  principle,  neither  of  a  glucosidal  nor  alkaloidal  nature, 
but  possessing  all  the  toxic  properties  of  Fraser's  glucoside,  which 
they  termed  strophantine  (Amer.  Jour.  Phar.,  1877,  p.  402).  The 
botany  of  the  subject  is  by  no  means  at  present  sufficiently  clear  to 
enable  pharmacists  to  distinguish  with  precision  the  one  from  the 
other,  and  it  appears  to  be  questionable  whether  poisonous  seeds,  pos- 
sessing undoubtedly  the  physiological  activity  described  by  Fraser, 
may  be  here  and  are  not  collected  from  species  other  than  the  two  al- 
ready experimented  upon  by  the  above  gentlemen.  Prof.  Oliver  has 
stated  that  the  fruits  entirely  correspond  in  the  two  species ;  it  is,  how- 
ever, generally  accepted  that  the  follicles  yielding  seeds  with  greenish- 
brown  hairs,  belong  to  the  Kombe  plant,  whereas  those  yielding  seeds 
with  brown  hairs,  belong  to  the  S.  hispidus,  and  Prof.  Oliver,  after 
a  more  minute  examination,  referred  the  former  to  a  distinct  species 
which  he  named  Strophanthus  Kombe.  This  plant  is  described  as  fol- 
lows by  Dr.  Kirk,  Consul  at  Zanzibar :  ' 
"The  plant  is  a  woody  climber,  growing  in  the  forest  both  of  the 
valley  and  the  hills,  and  found  at  various  places  between  the  coast  and 
