288 Transactions. 



of attaching a boy to each of their bullock-teams, solely for the purpose 

 of preventing their animals feeding on this pest of the colony. Such inci- 

 dents I found were of daily occurrence. I met few settlers who had not 

 at some period had occasion from this cause to mourn the loss of sheep or 

 bullocks — the former sometimes by the hundred, the latter by the dozen." 

 These remarks of Lindsay serve well to illustrate the deadly nature of the 

 plant, and the embarrassment it offered to the pioneers of the country. 

 They also point to the importance and great desirability of an investigation 

 of the physiological action of the poison being made, in order that the treat- 

 ment of its effects may be conducted on rational lines, and as the first step 

 towards the discovery of an appropriate antidote. 



But while sheep and cattle have been the chief victims, human beings 

 have not proved exempt, and he was a lucky farmer who lost only his cows 

 or his sheep. Too often one of his children succumbed to the effects of 

 eating the berries or young shoots. Nor is this strange, for the shrub in full 

 fruit is a very striking and attractive object. The numerous racemes of 

 richly coloured, tempting-looking berries — at a glance not unlike black 

 currants — could hardly be overlooked or neglected by the child or thirsty 

 traveller ignorant of their dangerous properties. 



Numerous cases of poisoning must have occurred, but the recorded 

 deaths from this cause are not many. The following are all that occur 

 in the literature that has been laid under contribution : 1. Thomson (4), 

 in 1859, mentions that up till that date several children had died from eating 

 the berries. 2. Lauder Lindsay (3) mentions the case of twelve French 

 sailors who were poisoned by eating the berry ; four of them died. 3. The 

 Otago Colonist (5) records the death of one of two children in 1861 who had 

 eaten the shoots. 4. The Otago Daily Times notices the death of a young 

 man in 1862 from eating the shoots (6). 5. Easterfield and Aston (7) put 

 on record the following cases : A girl in 1854 55, from eating the berries ; 

 a bov in 1860, from eating the berries ; two cases from eating the berries — 

 one died, the other recovered, with impaired memory. 



For the purposes of this paper the writer asked of the Registrar-General 

 a return of all cases of death from tutu poisoning that occur in the records. 

 In his reply the Registrar-General stated that he was unable to make a 

 return, as cases of this kind are classed in the vital statistics under the 

 general heading " Accidental Poisoning." He had had the statistical tables 

 relating to inquests examined for thirty years back, and found that only 

 four deaths occurred from eating poisonous berries, one in each of the years 

 1889, 1891, 1896, and 1902. It is probable that the berry in each of these 

 cases was the tutu-berry, but in only one case — that of 1889 — was it stated 

 to be so. 



Effect of the Plant on Animals. 



Horses. — Statements vary as to the effect on horses. It is said that 

 they have been known to eat freely of the plant without injury (8), and, 

 again, that C. thymifolia is highly poisonous to them (9). They are said 

 to refuse the young shoots, but have been known to eat the berries (3). If 

 they escape, it is probably because they do not eat enough of the plant ; 

 that they eat freely without evil result is not credible. 



Birds are regarded as immune. They certainly eat freely of the berries 

 without ill effect. The cjuestion of their immunity will be considered later. 



Babbits are said to be immune (10), (11). and certainly the tutu does 

 not seem to have checked their increase. They probably do not eat the 

 plant. 



