Strophanthus hispidus: its Natural History, Chemistry, and Pharmacology

Abstract

(Abstract.)In February 1870, the author made a communication to this Society on the Kombe Arrow-Poison of Africa, a product of the Strophanthus hispidus plant. In that communication the nature of its action on the various structures of the body, and the chemical composition of the seeds of the plant, which are the most active part, were described. It was pointed out that the action is chiefly exerted upon the heart and upon the muscles of the body, and that the seeds contain a crystalline active principle of the nature of a glucoside, to which the name Strophanthin was given