Am'octu!'iS7.arm"}     British  Pharmaceutical  Conjerence.  519 
obtained  by  him  from  the  seeds  was  only  about  two-thirds  of  the  quantity 
obtained  by  Mr.  Gerrard  and  Mr.  Helbing.  Such  differences,  however,  he 
considers  may  be  attributable  to  variations  in  the  seeds  operated  upon.  But 
a  more  important  point  appeared  in  his  statement,  that  although  in  treating 
the  seeds  with  absolute  alcohol  he  obtained  a  larger  yield  of  strophanthin 
than  that  reported  by  other  observers,  the  seeds  were  still  very  imperfectly 
exhausted.  He  appears  also  to  have  observed  some  variation  from  the 
reported  behavior  of  the  glucoside  with  tannic  acid.  The  author  criticised 
Mr.  Gerrard's  process  for  the  preparation  of  strophanthin,  and  suggested  as 
an  improvement  either  of  two  alternative  processes,  in  both  of  which 
the  seeds  are  first  exhausted  with  water  containing  10  per  cent,  of  alcohol 
instead  of  absolute  alcohol,  and  the  use  of  tannic  acid  as  a  precipitant  is 
avoided.  He  also  suggested  a  modification  in  Professor  Frazer's  formula 
for  the  preparation  of  tincture  .of  strophanthus.  In  the  discussion  that 
followed  the  reading  of  this  report,  Mr.  Gerrard  referred  to  the  statement 
by  Professor  Frazer  that  strophanthin  is  crystallizable,  and  said  that  he  also 
had  succeeded  in  preparing  it  in  the  crystalline  form,  but  the  quantity  was 
very  small,  and  for  some  reason  the  compound  rapidly  decomposed.  He 
also  mentioned  that  in  some  oil  from  the  seeds,  after  standing  a  time,  he 
had  noticed  a  crystalline  separation,  which  ought  to  be  the  subject  of  ex- 
periment. Dr.  Symes,  referring  to  the  tincture  as  being  the  preparation 
that  would  probably  be  used  for  the  present,  thought  the  preliminary  treat- 
ment of  the  seeds  with  ether  was  hardly  necessary,  as  proof  spirit  exhausted 
them  without  removing  any  appreciable  quantity  of  oil.  It  was  objected, 
however,  by  Mr.  Elborne  that  such  a  preparation  becomes  cloudy  on 
standing. 
Catha. — Some  contributions  to  the  knowledge  of  catha  leaves,  by  Profes- 
sor Fliickiger  and  Mr.  T.  E.  Gerock,  next  came  under  the  attention  of  the 
meeting.  The  greater  part  of  this  lengthy  paper  was  of  the  historical  and 
antiquarian  nature  that  characterizes  many  of  the  writings  of  the  senior 
author.  Only  the  portion  recording  the  results  of  the  chemical  examination 
therefore  was  read  by  Mr.  Naylor.  It  appears  that  the  first  scientific  notice 
of  the  plant  was  contributed  rather  more  than  a  century  ago  by  the  Swedish 
botanist  and  explorer,  Forskal,  who  reported  that  the  Arabs  ate  the  leaves 
greedily  on  account  of  their  stimulating  powers  and  the  wakefulness  they 
promoted;  also  that  they  believed  the  plague  would  not  invade  a  place 
where  the  tree  was  cultivated,  and  that  a  man  carrying  a  twig  of  catha  in 
his  bosom  might  safely  go  among  the  infected.  A  number  of  other  quota- 
tions are  given  in  the  paper,  tending  to  show  that  catha  leaves  are  used  by 
the  natives  of  Arabia  and  Abyssinia  in  a  similar  manner  and  for  a  similar 
purpose  as  coca  leaves  in  South  America.  The  results  of  the  chemical 
examination  by  the  authors  of  a  sample  of  catha  are  recorded  in  the  last 
two  or  three  paragraphs  of  the  paper.  About  three  pounds  of  the  leaves 
were  exhausted  with  water  containing  oxalic  acid,  the  liquid  neutralized 
with  lime  and  shaken  with  light  petroleum;  the  greater  part  of  the  petro- 
leum was  distilled  off  and  the  residue  shaken  with  dilute  hydrochloric  acid  ; 
the  acid  solution  was  heated  with  lime  in  excess  and  then  shaken  with 
