212 Proceedlii(/.s of the Hoijal Socieff/ of Vic/oria. 



What is a Poison Plant? 



A ])(>ison ]>lant beiug one that poisons, flie first thing to 

 (1;> was to settle that point, and tlien liave the plant 

 analysed, in order to determine the poisonous principle or 

 alkaloid. Mr. P. Wilkinson, of the Government Analyst's 

 Department, has made an extract from the j)lant, but found 

 no alkaloid present. It is attempted to settle the former 

 point in this pa])er, and in order to be clear as to what 

 constitutes a poisoi.i, we shall take the definition as given in 

 Gu}^ and Ferrier's " Forensic Medicine," Gth Ed., 1 888 : — 

 "A poison is any substance or matter (solid, licjuid, or 

 gaseous) which, when applied to tl^e bod}* outwardly or in 

 any way introduced intf> it, can destroy life by its own 

 inherent qualities without acting mechanically." And Dr. 

 Neild's definition is : — " A poison is a substance which, 

 taken into the body, is fitted to injure health." So if thi& 

 j)lant can be proved to cause the death of animals feeding 

 upon it, it will deserve the name of a poison plant, 

 irrespective of the symptoms which it pi-oduces. 



Experiments on Rabuits. 



Knowing from tlje experiments of Professor Halford and 

 others, that such drugs as opium and belladonna can be 

 given in very large doses to dogs wnth comparativelj- little 

 eftect, the first difficulty was to decide upon and obtain 

 suitab!,' ninmals for experiment. After due consideration, 

 we ri'si !\( <1 to try the effects of the herb upon herbivorous 

 animals such as rabbits, which Mr. Wyatt, of Woodlands 

 Station, very kindly procured and sent to us. Three rabbits 

 ariived on Saturday, 1st October, and were kept for a week 

 on ordinary diet. They were all in good health and lively. 



C)n Saturday, 8th October, at 4 ]).m., two were placed in 

 a separate cage and fed upon the Homer'to plant, the other 

 being reserved for future experiment. Fresh plants were 

 brought from Pascoe Vale, and the portion growing above 

 ground, similar to that eaten by the cattle, was moistened 

 and given to the two rabbits. Nothing else was in the cage, 

 and we saw them eat freely of the plant. 



C)n Monday morning, lOth October, both were dead, and 

 not expecting such a sudden effect, we did not watch 

 syui])toms very closely. However, the question of symptoms 

 was a secondary one at tiiis stage, the primary object being 



