290 Transactions. 



bile, partly by the urine but in lesser degree ; that the liver retains the 

 copper with great tenacity and the pancreas with almost equal strength, 

 and that the kidneys do not retain it as much as the other two organs. 

 The nervous and muscular systems do not contain enough to interfere with 

 their action. They recommend numerous small doses in order to obtain 

 chronic effects. My experiments show that the pancreas does not contain 

 much copper. Max Klemptner (Chem. Centr., 1894, ii, 620; abst. in J.C.S., 



1895, p. 321) records the following symptoms in poisoning by sodium cupric 

 tartrate : Atrophy both in acute and chronic cases ; diarrhoea some time 

 before death, and persistent vomiting, in chronic cases ; enfeebled pulse 

 and laboured respiration. When subcutaneously injected into the pleura 

 the salt produces weakness and stiffness of the hinder extremities ; the 

 same is noticed when the salt or copper haemoglobin is exhibited. In 

 one case blood and albumen were found in the urine. Copper was not 

 found in the blood serum, but in the corpuscles. 



The question whether chronic copper poisoning can occur in animals 

 is evidently doubted by many authorities. A. Koldeway (Chem. Centr., 



1896, ii, 1041 ; abst. in J.C.S., 1898, p. 39) states that no noteworthy evil 

 results follow small doses of copper (or even large doses) in people in good 

 health, or in animals that vomit readily ; long continuance in the use of 

 copper, however, produces slight degenerative changes in the liver and 

 kidneys, which can only be detected on microscopic examination. He 

 doubts the existence of chronic copper poisoning amongst workers in that 

 metal, any illness occurring probably being due to other metallic impurities 

 of the copper. L. Lewin (Deusch Med. Wochenschr., 1900, 26, 689 ; abst. 

 in J.S.C.I., 19, 1900, 1183) could not discover any phenomena indicating 

 chronic poisoning in copper- workers. The editor of Taylor's " Medical 

 Jurisprudence " (1905, p. 476) is evidently doubtful as to whether chronic 

 copper poisoning can occur in human subjects. This doubt should be 

 even greater as to whether the poisoning can occur in herbivora. 



Dieulafait (Compt. Rend., 89, 453: abst. in J.C.S., 1879, p. 1020; 

 1880, p. 489) states that copper occurs in all plants that live on primary 

 rocks, or on soils derived from those rocks. One hundred grams of rock 

 will always give a reaction for copper. Dupre (Analyst, ii, 1 ; abst. in 

 J.C.S., 1877, p. 511) states that copper is found in all vegetables as well 

 as in animals, but rarely amounts to more than 1 gram per 100,000 (0-001 

 per cent.). Dieulafait states that 1 gram of ash from all plants growing 

 on primordial rocks give the copper-reaction, but plants grown on pure 

 limestone contain but traces of copper, requiring at least 100 grams of ash 

 for its detection. J. B. Harrison, in a recent report (1906) to the Science 

 and Agricultural Department of British Guiana, shows its occurrence in 

 hundredths of 1 per cent, in many igneous rocks of that colony, and Hille- 

 brand (" Analysis of Silicate and Carbonate Rocks," Washington) con- 

 siders that it can be found almost invariably if looked for in the rock- 

 analysis carried out by the United States Survey Laboratory, but it is 

 seldom reported unless extra precautions have been taken to prevent its 

 entry into the analysis. 



The few determinations which have been made of copper in the soil 

 and grass-ash of the affected country go to show that it exists in amounts 

 of the order of thousandths of 1 per cent, rather than of hundredths. 



I have not been able to consult any of the original papers, owing to 

 the difficulty in obtaining scientific literature in New Zealand. One is 

 unable to conjecture how many specimens were analysed to supply the 

 above data, and whether the figures might be taken as a standard. 



