412 Transactions.—Botany. 
when in short they would be called upon to sustain any severe strain upon 
their mental or physical power, they would then take out of a bag, in which 
they carried it, some dried vegetable substance, and would chew or masticate 
small quantities of it, aud would at intervals during their desert travel 
masticate and swallow small portions of this substance, and they could thus: 
for days sustain themselves without food, until they could reach places 
where food, ete., was again procurable. 
It is further known that the individuals of the several tribes valued this 
material very highly, and that they obtained it from a distant tribe, paying 
for it by a kind of barter, and that the users did not know the plant from 
which it was gathered. 
The knowledge of these facts had caused various scientific persons in 
Australia—Baron von Müeller, Dr. Bancroft, and others—to be very 
desirous to learn more about this material, and to investigate its properties. 
When Mr. Gilmore upon one occasion was travelling, he came across a 
tribe who, being remarkable in other respects, claimed to have certain of 
their old men who knew where the Pituri was procured, and the plants from 
which it was obtained. Mr. Gilmore was afterwards fortunate enough to 
procure specimens of the dried Pituri, and gave portions to several scientific 
persons to experiment with. 
Dr. Bancroft made several very interesting experiments with this 
material, both in its dried state and also with an extract prepared from it, 
Baron von Miller, having received a portion and examined it 
microscopically and otherwise, believed that a considerable part of the dried 
substance was the leaf of a small tree or shrub, which he defined as Duboisia 
hopwoodii, which is indigenous in several of the warmer parts of Australia. 
Having procured, through the kindness of Mr. Barley, a supply of the 
dried Pituri, I was able to investigate it, and to confirm the results obtained 
by Dr. Bancroft to some extent, which results shall be as briefly as possible 
related hereunder, with a view to inducing all who have the means to 
further investigate this very curious, and as it appears, very important 
substance, which promises not only to be a very valuable medicinal remedy, 
but to be what it is claimed the coca of the Peruvians is (the dried leaves 
of the Erythorylon coca), a nervine and stimulant that sustains function, 
and retards tissue waste. 
Before giving the results of my experiments with Pituri, it will be well 
to see what Baron von Miieller and others say of it. 
“ The natives of Central Australia chew the leaves of Duboisia hopwoodit, 
just like the Peruvians, and Chilians masticate the leaves of the coca 
( Erythorylon coca) to invigorate themselves during their long foot-journeys 
through the desert. Iam not certain whether the aboriginals of all districts 
