Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
April,  1919. 
Strophanthns  Semina,  B.  P. 
249 
trous.  During  last  week  a  pharmacist  asked  me  for  an  opinion  on  a 
case  that  came  within  his  daily  work.  A  patient  brought  in  a  prescrip- 
tion of  a  London  physician,  ordering  three  times  the  maximum  dose 
of  the  B.P.  tincture  (without  any  indication  that  the  physician  was 
aware  of  the  fact).  The  chemist  hoped  to  be  able  to  telegraph  to 
the  doctor,  and  made  an  excuse  that  it  would  take  time  to  prepare, 
but  the  customer  said  he  must  have  it  at  once,  as  it  was  a  severe 
case  of  heart  disease  and  the  dose  was  wanted  immediately.  The 
chemist  had  to  consult  a  neighboring  doctor,  who  advised  him  not 
to  give  more  than  the  maximum  B.P.  dose. 
It  is  quite  obvious  that  if  one  pharmacist  (retail  or  wholesale) 
has  a  different  sample  of  seed  to  work  with,  there  is  no  certainty 
under  present  conditions  that  the  same  prescription  prepared  at  dif- 
ferent shops  will  be  of  the  same  strength,  and  the  relief  that  the 
medical  man  has  a  right  to  expect  for  his  patient  cannot  be  depended 
upon. 
The  question  of  price  of  the  seed  ought  not  to  enter  into  the 
question.  In  the  case  of  powerful  drugs  like  strophanthus,  aconite, 
and  digitalis,  used  for  serious  diseases  requiring  prompt  measures, 
it  is  important  either  that  the  Food  and  Drug  Act  should  be  strictly 
applied  to  punish  those  using  adulterated  or  mixed  samples,  or  that 
a  government  inspector  of  vegetable  drugs  should  be  appointed  to 
prevent  such  important  remedies,  if  adulterated  or  diluted  with  other 
species,  from  entering'  into  commerce.  In  view  of  the  limited  geo- 
graphical range  of  6".  Kombe,  it  might  be  well  to  order  the  use  of 
5\  hispidus  instead,  as  it  is  much  more  widely  spread  and  more 
easily  obtained,  and  is  the  only  other  known  species  that  gives  the 
green  reaction  of  sulphuric  acid  with  strophanthus  seed,  indicating 
the  presence  of  strophanthin. 
Aconite,  which  affords  a  similar  instance  of  possible  danger  to 
patients,  has  already  fallen  somewhat  into  disuse  for  internal  use, 
owing  to  the  substitute  of  Aconitum  paniculatum  for  the  prepara- 
tion of  extract,  and  of  Japanese  roots  not  derived  from  A.  Napellus, 
or  of  German  roots  of  mixed  species,  for  tincture,  since  these  have 
not  the  same  physiological  action,  and  indeed,  contain  different  alka- 
loids. These  roots,  costing  half  the  price  of  good  English  root  of 
Aconitum  Napellus,  have  practically  stopped  cultivation  in  this 
country,  and  although  during  the  war  it  has  risen  to  a  price  that 
would  pay  for  its  cultivation,  the  uncertainty  of  the  price  being  kept 
up  after  the  war  has  not  led  to  cultivation  on  a  commercial  scale. 
