ak p 
. POISONING BY THE SEEDS OF MACROZAMIA SPIRALIS. 43 
in New South Wales on Palm Sunday ; they are also used for decorative 
aega e plants are generally found growing in rocky and sandy 
i The nuts are eaten by the Meis etu but are » principally consumed 
in seasons when food is scarce, and produce poisonous effects, unless they 
are ic on steeped, for several days, in pes and then roasted on the 
fire. nuts contain a nutritious starch, some samples of v B , eei 
sent to the Paris Exhibition of 1867, and Mr. Charles Moor the 
Sydney Botanic Gardens, and, at that time, one of the Commissioner Uo 
Sydney) informs me it was highly spoken of by some intereste he 
food department, who tasted it. The Macrozamia yields — a er 
amber-coloured gum, and I have ‘often seen the cones covered wit 
On the Manning iver, New South Wales, there grows a ves noble 
arborescent species of Macrozamia, discove red by Mr. C. Moore and 
named by Dr. Mueller, of Melbourne, after the late Sir William Denison, 
Macrozami ia Denisonii. I had before mentioned, in my ‘ Gatherings of a 
sent down to Sydney which I had an opportunity of examining, were o 
that size; but Mr. C. Moore informs me that he has seen them t irty feet 
high. It is stated that the fruit is edible and highly prized by the 
: aborigines i in that district. To render it innocuous it must first be steeped 
for t thre ee days in water, and roaste 
o ascertain the source of the active poisonous principle in these 
Oni nuts, Mr. J. L. Norrie, an analytical chemist at Sydney, has 
men them, and writes me as follows :— 
send you some account of my examination of the nuts of M. 
FEES "n the first plaee, the seeds examined were perfectly dry. On 
removing the shell and epidermis, and pulping the seed, I obtained a 
large quantity of starch and some gluten; testing the soluble portion it is 
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h salt, and isolate dinoxalate of potash, which is the 
— substance contained in these nuts. There is also every appear- 
ce of an alkaloid crystallizing in a but the quantity operated upon 
was so small that I could only o obtain a microscopic specimen ; it therefore 
requires further examination upon a MESE quantity of mater ial to test its 
particular properties. These seeds contain also vegetable pris gum, 
and sugar, and consequently as an article ‘of food, as used by t 
they are of no mea n value; for it must be remembered that in the roast- 
red heat, into carbonate, modifying, or completely destroying the poison- 
ous properties. The starch granules are also worthy of notice. They 
differ somewhat in appearance among themselves in size of grain, but 
gend they are composed of large and small granules, with few of in- 
mediate size. The.smaller grains are chiefly round, rarely oval, au 
t NT with the dark central spot or aperture, designated the hilum, 
as in wheat. The large grains, instead of being rounded a Re 
are perfect ovoids, in fact, resembling so many small birds’ eggs, formin 
an exceedingly pretty microscopic specimen, and quite distinct i from piter 
starch grains. en examined with a power of 450 diameters, they are 
seen to great advantage. Time has not pilot. me to examine them 
farther, which I hope to do at a future opportunity.” 
t has been found that when the seed, in a fresh state, had been cut up 
= given to fowls, it has been generally fatal to them. 
