294 Transactions. 



method of making the extract, it is impossible to calculate what dose of 

 tutin was taken in this case. The first dosB (4J grains) was taken at 2.20 on 

 F^ida^• afternoon, and a second dose of the same amount at 4 p.m. An hour 

 or two later he felt sick and faint, and began to vomit. The vomiting oc- 

 curred at frequent intervals, and continued for twenty-four hours. At 

 8 p.m. he felt slight twitches in the legs and arms ; and at 10.40 p.m. the 

 medical student who was acting as clerk of the case noted that " all the 

 muscles seemed to get tight, and there was foaming at the mouth." At 

 10.50 the pulse-rate was 102 and the breathing heavy. Twenty minutes 

 later the pulse was still 102, but the breathing was normal, and there was 

 profuse perspiration. At 11.24 p.m. the clerk noted that " the subject 

 spoke in a collected manner ; getting right, but drowsy." The vomiting 

 continued till 8 p.m. on Saturday. The following day (Sunday) he felt 

 sick and dull, but, though shaky, managed to attend to his duties. He 

 states that sensation was dulled and spirits below par for seven or eight days. 

 For a month he was not in good tone, and then for the first time he felt a 

 sensation of " pins and needles " in his fingers and toes, and felt the floor 

 of his bedroom woolly when he rose in the morning. He could feel accu- 

 rately with his fingers, but experienced a heavy, stiff, numb sensation when 

 he used them, and this symptom lasted a month. 



4. The Active Principle. 



The first substantial advance in the investigation of the chemical pro- 

 perties of tutu was made in 1900, when Easterfield and Aston (23) suc- 

 ceeded in isolating a crystalline glucoside, to which they gave the name 

 " tutin." All three species of Coriaria Avere experimented upon, and 

 crystals of tutin were obtained from each. The young shoots were found 

 to yield a greater quantity (0-03 per cent.) than either the berries or the 

 leaves. 



Preparation : In the case of C. ruscifolia, " the fresh young shoots were 

 finely divided, the juice expressed, filtered, and evaporated to a syrup nearly 

 neutralised by carbonate of soda and shaken up with ether. The ether 

 on evaj)oration deposited crystals of tutin. These were recrystallized from 

 alcohol until the melting-point was constant." 



Properties : Tutin is described as a colourless, odourless, intensely bitter 

 compound, which separates from alcohol in oblique-ended prisms, and 

 from hot concentrated solutions in water in characteristic acicular forms. 

 It is perceptibly volatile, sublimes readily at 120° to 130° C, and melts at 

 208° to 209° C. (uncorrected). It contains no nitrogen, and reduces Fehling 

 solution after inversion by acid. The compound is therefore to be con- 

 sidered a glucoside, but the hydrolyzed substance yields with phenylhydra- 

 zine an amorphous precipitate which is not phenylglucosazone. Examination 

 by Zeissl's method for methoxyl groups gave negative results. Strong 

 sulphuric acid added to a few drops of a saturated aqueous solution of tutin 

 gives a blood-red coloration. 



Solubility : 100 grams water at 10° C. dissolve 1-9 grams tutin ; 100 

 grams ether at 10° C. dissolve 1-5 grams tutin ; 100 grams alcohol at 10° C. 

 dissolve 8-2 grams tutin. It is very soluble in acetone, sparingly soluble 

 in chloroform, and soluble in benzine and carbon-disulphide. 



The optical activity has been determined by Marshall. The substance 

 is dextrorotatory, and the specific rotatory power is -f- 9-25°. Easterfield 

 and Aston found that when solutions of tutin were evaporated to dryness- 



