lo June, 1909.] .4// V urccordcd Poison Plant. 391 



Recovery of Tartar and Spirit from Marc. 



In the neighbourhood of Llansa I visited a small factory and distillery, 

 for the recovery of what would, otherwise, be waste products from the 

 marc. In Victoria, we allow many hundred pounds worth of by-products 

 of wine-making to be wasted annually, as was also the case, until recently, 

 in Europe. Nowadays, attention is being turned to their recovery, and 

 this Llansa factory was recently erected for the purpose. It buys and 

 treats the pressed marc from vine-growers in the neighbourhood — the 

 average yield per ton of marc being 88 lbs. of tartar and 9 galls, of 

 spirit of a strength of 65 per cent. o.p. The process of tartar extraction 

 was a new one and one which the manager explained to me was a secret : 

 according to him, it gave entirely very satisfactory results. After extraction, 

 the marc was dried in the sun and used as fuel for the steam boilers of 

 the factory. In a country where firewood and coal are as dear as they are in 

 Spain, this was probably the most profitable means of utilizing it. Tartar 

 extraction is largely practised in France, and in a future report I pro- 

 pose to deal with French methods. 



******** 



On 30th January. I left Llansa for France, the frontier being only 

 some 4 miles aw\ay. The photographs show the last I saw of Spain, a 

 countrv which I left with very different feelings to those with which I 

 entered it three months earlier — feelings chiefly of gratitude to its hospitable 

 and courteous people for their many kindnesses to me, and assistance in my 

 work, and of admiration for much that I had seen of their agriculture and 

 especially of their viticulture. 



AN UNRECORDED POISON PLANT. 



Alfred J. Ewart, D.Sc, Ph.D., F.L.S., Government Botanist and 

 Professor of Botany in Melbonme University. 



Specimens of the common red Pimpernel or Shepherd's Weather Glass 

 (Anagallis arvensis, Primulacece) have been forwarded from the Mount 

 Camel Estate, Redcastle, with a request fox identification and the statement 

 that a number of sheep had died, it was supposed, through eating this 

 plant. Neither Bailey nor Maiden include this plant in their lists 

 of plants poisonous toi stock in Australia but there is no doubt as to its 

 poisonous narcotic properties when eaten in excess, although it appears 

 usually to be untouched or eaten in small amounts insufficient to cause injury. 



The plant formerly had a high medicinal value being used for a varietv 

 of diseases, from epilepsy to snake bite. In India it is still used for leprosv, 

 hydrophobia, dropsy, epilepsy, mania and cerebral affections generally. 

 Half a century ago it was known to possess distinct narcotic 

 properties, and this knowledge was based upon the experiments of Arfilas. 

 No active principle appears, however, to have been isolated, nor are there 

 any records of attempts to do so. This is therefore a case for investiga- 

 tion to determine {a) the nature of the narcotic principle, {b) its amount, 

 {c) the degree of intensity of its poisonous action. 



In the East, the plant or an extract from it is used to intoxicate fishes 

 and also to expel leeches from the nostrils. Cases are recorded, however, 

 in which when used for this purpose on dogs and the juice has been sv;al- 

 lowed death has followed. In Baden-Powell's Punjaub Products, I., page 

 368, it is stated to kill dogs by producing inflammation of the stomach. 



A blue flowered form of the Pimpernel, sometimes called Anagallis 

 coeriilea, also grows in Victoria as an introduced plant but is not common. 

 Both forms appear to have similar properties. 



