April i, 18H4.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



723 



subject to great improveineut at the liantl of mau ; but to be 

 successful much intelligeut observatiou must be exercisetl, 

 and the result of all experiments should be recorded. 

 Private iadividuaJs could do much in this cause, but it is 

 one which might with advantage be taken in hand by pastoral 

 and agricultural societies. The production of a good animal 

 or of good fruit is no doubt an evidence of success so far as it 

 goe.s, but the .specimen is unly u.seful because it shows what 

 tile class generally may be raised to. The establishment of a 

 clais.% of animals, or of plants, having the power to resist 

 tile attacks of <lisease would be a much greater achievement 

 than the production of a limited number of perfect speci- 

 mens, the only effect of which is to prove how much yet 

 rem:!!::- * ■ '■■ done. 



THE UlLU CKOTON PLAiST AND KPIDEMIC 

 DISEASE. 

 (From llie Straits Times, March Sth.) 



Capt. W. J. Taylor, Master Attendant at Madras, writes 

 as follows to the Mudi-as Mad regai'ding the baleful iu- 

 tlueuce of this plant. We publish his communication, as 

 it may tend to throw some light upon the cause of the 

 mysterious cattle disease to which we called attention 

 a short time ago on the iuformatiou of Ur. Little, who 

 now. iuforuis us that ho has lost 71 bullocks from it on 

 his Siglap coconut pbintation. Native owners have also, 

 we ar6 informed, suffered severely from it. and nobody 

 seems able to diagiujsc; its cause or to devise a remedy, 

 ;i:i,l it is almost, if not entirely invariably fatal, and in 

 "ry short, tiin'; .- — 



. iic prevalence of disease in the town and suburbs of Mad- 

 r:is is an aUiriiiiag fact that should call forth all the energy and 

 intelligence of its citizens to overcome it, and as far as poss- 

 ible search out its cause. It is therefore with the hope 

 of contributing something towards this useful purpose that 

 I beg to draw the attention of our readers to some cor- 

 respoiuteiice initiated by me about two years ago regarding 

 tli« deleterious properties of the plant, commonly called wild 

 croton, that is of rapidly increasing growth in all our water 

 courses, and has had already access to our wells and tanks 

 during the heavy rains that up to a few days ago almost 

 inundated Madras. The question was taken up at that time 

 in a few quarters, but soon dropped from want of interest 

 and the suppression of sickness. I was, in the fii'st place, 

 corrected as to the bontanical name of the plant, which it 

 seems is a genus of Euphoriaceie, and is known to botanists 

 ast/Urcas Purgans, formerly as Gatropha Curcas. It seems 

 to be admitted that every part of the plant possesses 

 some mediciual quality if its use is restricted to very small 

 quantities; but the same remark applies e([ually well to Prussic 

 acid, Strychnine, Arsenic, and in fact all poisons. Dr. 

 Benuot, in his ' Gatherings of a Naturalist,' writes that in 

 administering medicine from this plant, the elfects were 

 vomiting, purging, a burning sensation in the stomach and 

 bowels, with a determination of blood to the head, many 

 of which symptoms directly resemble cholera; and the 

 Civil Surgeon of Miduajiore, a place infested with the plant, 

 in reporting upon a malarious fever that had decimated 

 parts of bis district, mentioned that he considered this 

 rank and pestilential growth no insignificant factor in the 

 general uidiealthiuess of the villages. It flourishes again 

 largely along the pilgrim road to Jaggernaut; and in the 

 villages along this route cholera and malarious fever are 

 never ab.sent. Its character therefore is undoubtedly open 

 grave suspicion. In my former letter I drew attention to 

 two expuriments I had made in connection with this 

 plant upon fishes and frogs. Four large chatties were 

 tilled with Eed Uills water, in two of which some 

 portions of the wild croton were soaked for a short 

 time; fish and frogs, about one dozen to each of 

 the four chatties, were then introduced separately. 

 The fishes died in a very short time counted by hours 

 in the foul chatty, but remained alive and active for days 

 in the other. The frogs which belong to a warm blooded 

 family and are known to possess very strong constit- 

 utions, were all fuiuul dead next morning in the 

 poisoned ..chatty, but in perfect condition in the other. 

 The bodies of the dead frogs were discoloured, bloated 

 and swollen from thi^ (■(Tects of the puison. Cunsidoring 

 lite rapidity with <vllich water run? through cour.ses during 



heavy rain dragging this plant under water, and threat- 

 ening to uproot it, and its constant crowded presence, 

 I do not think the solution I used was very much stronger 

 than that wliich drains into the wells and tanks, and 

 overflows the compounds in Madras and neighbourhood. 

 A very grave misgiving is becoming wide-spread regard- 

 ing the milk supply, which is said to promote malarious 

 fever. Now during the period when rain was daily fall- 

 ing, and ditches running, any traveller on our roads could 

 see the milkman's cow drinking at these ditches, and even 

 now their chief supply is drawn from the same polluted 

 sources, and will continue to be so until the fine weather 

 and presence of the sun has dried them up. Milk is such a 

 vital necessity among Hindus as well as Europeans that some 

 experiments should, I submit, be conducted in this direction 

 with a view to the detection of any deterioration. Cholera of a 

 certain type, and, fever, probably typhoid, may, I consider, be 

 directly traceable to the above conditions, but there re- 

 mains the extraordinary increase of small-pox to deal 

 with, which increase 1 cannot help connecting in my 

 own mind with poisoned milk. Oows, cow-pox and small- 

 pox, with vaccination, have a direct association in our 

 ideas, though one not readily explained, but if <'!iperimeut 

 should prove that milk is now in a state prejudicial to 

 liealth, the fact would be another link in the chain of 

 cucnmstantial evidence against this plant, but I am not 

 in a position to press this indictment. X must leave that 

 to scientific analysis. P.ut I may mention that one 

 uatur.alist and physician reports that in some places it is 

 used in the medicinal quantities to promote the secretion 

 ot milk. \Vo know that we have a hidden foe in our 

 innermost circle of domestic life of Nihilist proclivities. 

 His exertions arc widely extended at certain periods, when 

 wet and cold affect the water-supply, and compel the 

 jjopulation to herd together in huts and hovels, where light 

 and air never enter. He intrudes also into our highest and 

 best protected families and palaces, which through the 

 agency of servants, dbobics, milkmen, tliic, can never be 

 pro])oriy isolated. Kvery death occurring under unusual con- 

 ditions, and where the habits of the individual and the nature 

 of his food supplies, can be investigated, ought to be traced, 

 and in most cases tracked as satisfactorily as a murder 

 can be by the Police. The ' strong connections,' nice depend- 

 encies, giudatious just of human life, are so mysteriously 

 blended, that we are being constantly surprized by new 

 communications that are discovered between them. And 

 the unexpected in this our days generally happens. In 

 a few days, when warm genial weather is established, and 

 natives can freely take the air, as is their custopi, and 

 evaporation has removed the exciting causes the sickness 

 now of so alarming a type will disappear, and we shall be 

 told that it is stamped out, but it will surely return when 

 the recent conditions of weather are restored. &Ieanwhile, 

 the cause might be carefully investigated. iVIany places 

 w-e might reasonably expect to be free from sickness, like 

 Palaverain, the Mount, Guindy, &c., suifer as much as the 

 crowded [):ircherries of Madras, and the former are infested 

 with the wild croton plant. Jfy duty as a jMunicip.al 

 Oommissioner, equally with my sympathy in the k^.n.-i.-jl 

 distress, urges me to bring this matter forward." 



CHEMISTRY OF VEGETATION. 



Why do plants gi'ow ? 



Because they possess an organization which enables them 

 to incorporate with their own systems certain elements 

 by which they are surrounded. Air, water and earth are 

 obviously elements of nutrition to plants, lint " air," 

 " water," and " earth," are only general terms ; the air 

 consist of gases ; water of gases ; and earth of various chem- 

 icals, such as carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, lime, 

 sulphur, silica, kc. To comprehend, therefore, " how i)lant,s 

 grow," we must examine their organization and study the 

 nature of those substances which constitute their food. 



Vegctahles may bo truly said to be living systems, in this 

 sense, that they possess the means of converting the ele- 

 ments of common matter into organized structures, both 

 by as.similation and reproduction ; but we must not sufi'er 

 ourselves to be deluded by the very extensive application 

 of the word life to conceive, in the life of plants, any 

 power similai- to tliat producing the life of animals. In 

 Cidliug forth the vegetable functions, common physical 



