22 MALAYAN FISH POISON, 



purified by re-solutioii iu alcoliol and repeating the above process. 

 The result will be the resiiioiis substance above described. The 

 roots shotild be digested a second time in fresh alcohol. The dried 

 root yields 9 '42 per cent of tubain by the above process. When 

 tiibain is dissolved in spirits of wine and left to stand, a granular 

 de}K)sit of a dirty-white colour is formed, which is only sparingly 

 soluble in cold alcohol, l)ut is dissolved by hot alcohol, chloroform, 

 and ether. This granular body redeposits on evaporation from 

 ether as a pure white crystalline tasteless mass. Fnmi its solu- 

 tion in chloroform it is left as a clear white varnish. When 

 heated it melts into a transi>arent white fluid, wdiich on an in- 

 crease of heat tiirns brownish-red and partly distils, unaltered. 

 This substance when freed from all traces of tu])ain (by repeated 

 recrvstallization from hot alcohol) is not poist)nous to fish. The 

 acid aqueous solution left after the deposition of the tubain, aiid 

 which contains presumably any alkaloids j^resent in the roots, is 

 also not poisonous. 



One part of tubain in 850,000 parts of water jiroves quickly 

 fatal to fish, and water containing the extraordinarily small 

 quantity of one millionth — i.e., 1 grain in 143 jjounds of water, 

 will kill fish in from one-qtiarter to half an hour, according to 

 species. There is a considerable difference in the susceptibility 

 of various kinds of fish to the effects of the poison, and 

 the silurida', or cat-fishes, ajipear to be the most tolerant of 

 any. It has been stated that fish killed by aker tul)a are some- 

 times unwholesome, but when we see the extremely small amount 

 of poison which is required to jtroduce a fatal result, it seems 

 improlialile that any ill elfects can ])e jn-oduced l^y eating fish 

 so killed ; the more so as tubain distils over with the steam 

 from boiling water, and would be, in pai't at least, eliminated 

 in cooking. * The crushed roots when boiled with water in a 

 retort yield an opalescent distillate, smelling strongly of the root 

 and actively poisonous.' The Malays say that fish killed by means 

 of aker tuba very quickly go bad ; but unless the poison acts as a 

 chemical ferment, which seems rmlikely (as tubain added to milk 

 causes no change, and, if anything, rather retards its turning sour) 

 it is more probable that the idea arises from comparing fish caught 

 alive and remaining so in the bottom of a boat for some hotirs 

 perhaps before they actually die, with those killed hj the root at 

 the time they are taken out of the water. In the case of fish, the 

 poison is evidently absorbed by the gills, and passes at once into 

 the (circulation of the blood, which probal)ly accoiuits for the in- 

 finitesimal doses which are enough to produce lethal residts ; for 



* I havu taken one-fourth of a ti-raiii of tubain without e.x])eriencinii; 

 any ill effects. I'hc vesin was dissolved io a few drops of sjurits of wine and 

 added to about an ounce of water. 



