BY JOSEPH LAUTERER, M.D. 105 



pod is allowed to reach the back part of the tongue, it seems to 

 irritate some branches of the nervm vagus, as it produces a short 

 hacking cough, and the same sensation as when the inside of 

 the ear or the skin behind the ear is scratched with a sharp 

 instrument. 



A watery infusion of the " wattle curls " froths and forms 

 a lather, when agitated, like a solution of soap, and this 

 property is due to the saponin, which has been obtained pure 

 by me from the pods. The tannin has to be removed first from 

 the inspissated infusion or watery extract by shaking with ether, 

 which does not dissolve the saponin. Chloroform then takes 

 out the saponin, which can be estimated quantitatively after 

 evaporation. It is a white powder, and is dissolved by sulphuric 

 acid with a red coloration. 1 found 3 per cent of saponin in the 

 unripe pods of Acacia Cunnim/hamii. Saponin is a strong 

 poison for the muscle and the nerve, producing anesthesia very 

 much like the cocaine, but, besides this, it acts as a powerful 

 irritant. I have seen many cases of so-called "sandy blight" 

 of the eyes of bush people at times when there was no sand and 

 no wind, and in people where every suspicion of a specific 

 infection was excluded. In one case it was easy for me to trace 

 the real cause. The bushman, who suffered from a very acute 

 conjunctivitis, with swelling of the lids, had the fingers of both 

 hands covered with a sticky substance, which, on being washed 

 away in a small basin, caused a very marked frothing in the 

 water. The " sandy blight " of the woodcutter was caused by 

 the juice of the " wattle curls," brought in contact with the 

 eyes by wiping them with the hand. 



The hypodermic injection of the extract of only one unripe 

 pod of Acacia CnnninqhamU into the arm of a person caused 

 great pain, swelling, and redness of the injected spot, nausea, 

 and shivers ; the extract of two pods caused headache, fonni- 

 cations in the legs and arms, and paralysis of the accommoda- 

 tion of the eye and mydriasis. It is beyond doubt that the 

 juice of six wattle pods, hypodermically injected, wiU kill a 

 man. Injected in the leg of a frog f Hyla coerulea) it produced 

 total insensibility of the leg against even the strongest local 

 irritation, and total paralysis of the muscles. 



