XI. B, 5 Guerrero et al.: lUicium religiosum Siebold 205 



He has also kindly sent to us a detailed description of three 

 more cases in Chinese girls recently attended by him. All the 

 girls developed convulsions, and one of them died. 



ETIOLOGY OP POISONING BY ILLICIUM RELIGIOSUM 



The fruit of lUicium religiosum is not used as a condiment 

 nor as a medicine. Under the name of Illicium anisatum it 

 is employed in some towns of the Orient in small, indefinite 

 quantities to flavor certain native hodgepodges. The Chinese 

 in Manila acknowledge that the fruit of this plant is highly 

 poisonous ; yet they do not distinguish it from Illicium anisatum, 

 and they call indiscriminately these two species of Illicium 

 fruits pue-kag (star of eight rays). They consider both species 

 poisonous. Eykman(3) and Langaard(4) established experi- 

 mentally the toxicity of Illicium religiosum, but so far as we 

 know the relative toxicity of Illicium anisatum and Illicium 

 religiosum is not yet determined. According to our unpublished 

 experiments carried on in the department of pharmacology, 

 College of Medicine and Surgery, University of the Philippines, 

 in collaboration with Miss Felisa Nicolas, the fruit of lUicium 

 religiosum is fourteen times more toxic than that of Illicium 

 anisatum when kittens are used as the test objects. The fruit 

 of Illicium religiosum, in the proportion of 0.25 gram per 

 kilogram of body weight, was injected hypodermically in the 

 form of an infusion. It is a sure minimal fatal dose to these 

 animals. Illicium anisatum, on the other hand, is extensively 

 used by the laity as a stimulant, stomachic, and carminative. 

 The Filipinos use it in the preparation of various dishes and 

 to flavor a drink known as tahu or salabat, which is nothing 

 moi'e than a sweetened decoction of ginger. Tahu is popular 

 in many provinces of Luzon, and the poor people drink it in 

 place of tea and coffee. At the present time Illicium religiosum 

 is the only variety which is sold in the groceries of Manila, 

 while Illicium anisatum is obtainable only from the drug stores. 

 It is, therefore, not strange that cases of poisoning by Illicium 

 religiosum should occur in Manila. It is highly probable that 

 it is the materies morbi of the so-called colerinas which have 

 been observed to follow the ingestion of salabat flavored with 

 sanki in some towns of the Philippines. On account of the 

 cheapness of Illicium religiosum, it is frequently substituted 

 for lUicium anisatum. This substitution has been a cause of 

 the poisoning recorded in Holland, in France, and in other 

 countries and is illustrated by the cases observed by Montel 

 (5) in three Europeans in Conchin China. These cases present 



