62 MANUAL OF POISONOUS PLANTS 



Poisoning from Plants that contain Saponin. 



In recent years our knowledge of the Saponins has been greatly extended; 

 many of these studies have been made by Robert or his students in the lab- 

 oratory at Dorpat. The term saponin has been applied to a class of substances 

 of a glucosidal nature which are poisonous and when dissolved in water form a 

 solution which froths much like soap-suds. These substances are not all the 

 same chemically, but have the general formula OH^O 10 . Blyth gives the fol- 

 lowing list with their formulae: 

 Saponin 1. 



Saponin senegin 

 Quillaja sapotoxin 

 Sapindus sapotoxin 

 Gypsophila sapotoxin 

 Agrostemma sapotoxin. 

 Saponin 2. 



Asamin , 



Digitonin saporubrin J 2S ~ ]0 ' 

 Saponin 3. 



Quillagic acid 



Polygalic acid 



Herniaria saponin 



Cyclamin ) Q 



Sarsaparilla saponin ) 20 3-2 10- 



Sarsa saponin C, 2 H 30 O 10 



Parillin ^t*?4 A o 



Melanthin C L H io 



The suggestion is made that possibly dulcamarin C 22 H gl O 10 , and syringin 

 C 17 H BO O 10 may belong to the same series. 



" One of the oldest of the known saponins was isolated from the Bouncing 

 Betty, Saponaria officinalis, and later from the corn cockle Agrostemma Githago 

 and many other plants. This saponin is a white amorphous powder, very soluble 

 in water, is neutral and reacts without odor; it causes sneezing when applied 

 to the mucous membrane of the nose; tastes at first sweetish, then becomes 

 sharp and acrid. The saponin when rubbed on the skin exerts no action be- 

 cause not absorbed; when injected subcutaneously into frogs it becomes quickly 

 absorbed and acts upon the nerves and muscles. In warm blooded animals there 

 is little or no absorption because of an aseptic abscess which forms. Intravenous 

 injections in small amounts in the laboratory of Robert proved fatal for cats 

 and dogs. It acts injuriously on the striated muscle and heart muscle. The 

 sensor and motor nerve fibers are also affected in a serious way. On the 

 digestive tract it causes inflammation and peristalsis. The saponin substances 

 dissolve the blood corpuscles of all animals and thus penetrate the corpuscles. 

 It is thought that the haemolytic action of these substances is due to the lique- 

 faction of the cell membrane. 



Ransom found that the saponin may become bound to the corpuscles and 

 the serum. That this action depends on the cholosterin, saponin so bound will 

 not act on the red corpuscles. The saponin cholosterin mixture exerts no ac- 

 tion on dog's blood. 1 Dr. R. F. Bacon and H. T. Marshall who made a study 



1 The toxic action of saponin. Phil. Tour. Sci. 1:1037. Dr. R. F. Bacon and H. T. Mar- 

 shall. 



