FncHETT.— Physiological Action of Tutin. 293 



in his extremities, a mist came over everything, and he thought that he was 

 poisoned. The symptoms soon passed off, however, and he was none the 

 worse. 



Cattle and sheep are especially fond of the young, tender, asparagus-like 

 shoots, but they also eat the leaves and branchlets with readiness. 



3. AVoRK OF Previous Observers. 



When one considers the harmful influence that this noxious plant has 

 had upon the development of the country, it is remarkable that until recent 

 years little effort was made to determine the nature of the poison. 



In 1869 Skey (21) investigated the chemistry of C. ruscifolia. He showed 

 that the poisonous principle is not an alkaloid, as was commonly thought, 

 and with ether extracted from the seeds a green-coloured oil, 5 minims of 

 which when given to a cat quickly produced the symptoms characteristic 

 of tutu poisoning. Its highly toxic nature, together with certain peculiar 

 chemical properties possessed by it, inclined him to the opinion that this oil 

 was the active principle. 



A year later, 1870, Hughes (10) attempted to separate an alkaloid, using 

 the ground-shoots, and did indeed succeed in obtaining a crystalline sub- 

 stance, but failed to identify it. He thought that a heavy olive-coloured 

 oily fluid which he also obtained and proved to be toxic might be the active 

 principle and " a liquid alkaloid similar to conia." He showed that lime 

 destroyed the activity of the poison, and advocated its use as an antidote. 

 In conjiinction with Dr. Acheson, he conducted a series of experiments on 

 cats and dogs, but more with the object of proving the toxicity of his ex- 

 tracts, and of determining the value of lime as an antidote, than with 

 any idea of advancing our knowledge of the physiological action of the 

 poison. 



Hughes's results were adversely criticized by Skey (22), who held that 

 the temperature used in Hughes's experiments was such as must have pro- 

 duced many side-products by destructive distillation, and among others 

 acetate of ammonia, the presence of which, he thought, would sufficiently 

 account for the reactions attributed by Hughes to the presence of an 

 alkaloid. 



Twenty years elapsed before any further investigation was undertaken, 

 and then, in 1890, W. L. Christie (11) examined the physiological action 

 of the oil that had first been extracted by Skey. He made a series of ex- 

 periments on mammals, including one upon himself, and briefly summarised 

 the conclusions he arrived at as follows : '(1) That tutu acts on the nerve- 

 centres after absorption into the blood ; (2) that the grey matter of the 

 motor cortex is the part chiefly aft'ected, and that this peripheral action 

 {sic) causes epileptiform convulsions ; (3) that vomiting is chiefly due to 

 central causes, and that by its means, and perhaps by the renal secretion, 

 the poison is removed from the body ; and, lastly, (-t) that dyspnoea is due 

 to poisoning of the respiratory centres, and when death ensues it is due to 

 asphyxia from this cause or tetanus of the respiratory muscles — both may 

 however, I believe, occur from coma." 



The chief interest in Christie's work, however, lies in the experiment 

 upon himself. He took, in all, 9 grains of an extract made from the leaves 

 gathered in the spring. He calculates that each grain of extract represents 

 100 grains of leaf ; but, in the absence of data regarding the amount of tutin 

 in tutu-leaves at different times of the year, and of details as to the exact 



