Eastebfield and Aston. — Chemistry of Tutu. 351 



"Tutin, pharmacologically, is closely allied to coriamyrtin, 

 «,nd belongs to what is known as the picrotoxin group of sub- 

 stances. After preliminary depression it induces salivation, 

 a fall in the frequency of the pulse, and increased respiratory 

 activity, followed by convulsions, for the most part clonic and 

 limited in the earlier stages to the fore part of the body. 

 The effect is apparently due to an action on the medulla 

 ■oblongata and basal ganglia of the brain. It differs from 

 coriamyrtin in being less toxic and slower in its action. On 

 this account the preliminary depression is more marked. Its 

 connection with this substance, however, is close. Experi- 

 ments suggest that it is broken up in the body into some sub- 

 stance, possibly coriamyrtin, which is the active convulsant 

 factor. It ought to be stated that the coriamyrtin employed 

 by me was obtained from Merck. After boiling for a short 

 time with dilute hydrochloric acid (2 per cent.) it did not 

 reduce copper-sulphate solution. It melted at 224° (uucorr.), 

 and its solubility in physiological saline solution (06 per 

 •cent. NaCl) was less than 0-1 per cent. Eiban's coriamyrtin 

 melted at 220°, and was soluble in water to the extent of 

 1-44 per cent, at 22°." 



Seeds of C. thymifolia. — A kilogram and a half of the 

 seeds of G. thymifolia were pulverised and exhausted by 

 carbon-disulphide, which removed 22-6 per cent, of a green 

 drying oil. The seeds, freed from oil, yielded to water a 

 small quantity of tutin, which was extracted with ether, and 

 after recrystallisation melted at 208°-209°. The oil, upon 

 saponification, yielded a liquid acid, which was probably 

 linoleic acid, since its calcium and barium salts were readily 

 soluble in ether. 



Coriaria ruscifolia. 

 In the examination of this plant the juice expressed from 

 the succulent asparagus-like shoots (gathered at Wellington 

 early in October) was employed. It contained the same 

 acids as the extracts of C. thymifolia. The yield of tutin was 

 003 per cent. Samples of the plant gathered later in the 

 year from the same hillside contained a smaller percentage 

 •of the poison. The dried seeds of C. ruscifolia, on extraction 

 with carbon-disulphide, yielded 22-8 per cent, of oil, which 

 was very faintly toxic ; 0-18 gram administered to a small 

 kitten produced only very mild symptoms of tutu-poisoning. 

 From the extracted seeds water removed a few crystals of a 

 substance which gave the characteristic bitter taste and colour 

 reaction of tutin. 



Coriaria angustissima. 

 Only 1 kilogram of the dried plant was obtainable. It was 

 •collected at Dunedin early in January. Tutin was obtained 



