THE  AMERICAN 
JOURNAL  OF  PHiPMAM 
MA  Y,  ipop 
THE  PREPARATION  OF  TINCTURE  OF  STROPHANTI 
By  Archibald  E.  Chace,  M.D.  mi&£^ 
Instructor  in  Materia  Medica,  Cornell  University  Medical  College. 
(From  the  Laboratory  of  Pharmacology  of  Cornell  University, 
New  York  City.) 
In  view  of  the  opinion  expressed  by  several  observers  that  the 
tincture  of  strophanthus  has  been  of  variable  activity,  and  also 
considering  the  present  dependence  of  the  retail  pharmacist  upon 
the  large  manufacturing  houses  for  standardized  tinctures,  the  fol- 
lowing investigation  has  been  undertaken  to  devise  a  means  whereby 
the  retail  pharmacist  can  prepare  the  standardized  tincture  of 
strophanthus,  and  thus  give  his  own  guarantee  for  the  drug  which 
he  dispenses.  The  subsidiary  objects  connected  with  such  an  inves- 
tigation, such  as  the  determination  of  the  activity  of  the  seed  of 
commerce,  the  influence  of  defatting  the  seeds  previous  to  percola- 
tion, the  activity  of  the  fixed  oil  thus  obtained,  and  comparison  of 
the  standardized  tinctures  now  on  the  market  with  tinctures  made 
by  fully  exhausting  the  commercial  seed,  are  dealt  with  briefly. 
The  introduction  of  the  drug  was  due  to  Pelikan's  work  on  the 
action  of  strophanthus,  and  most  of  all  to  the  pharmaceutical  and 
pharmacological  studies  of  Thomas  R.  Fraser,  of  the  University  of 
Edinburgh,  following  the  discovery  of  the  drug  during  Livingstone's 
expedition  to  the  Zambesi.  From  the  time  Pelikan's  article 1 
appeared  in  1865,  until  1890  and  later,  Fraser,2  Wm.  Elborn,3  Van 
Hasselt,4  Baillon,5  Hardy  and  Gallois,6  Martindale,7  and  othe,  s 
worked  out  the  botany,  chemistry  and  therapeutics  as  well  as  they 
(209) 
