296 EEPOETS FEOM THE SECTIONS. 



ate myself uncooked, and two I gave to my Prencli governess. 

 The effect upon me I shall not readily forget ; it was as if I were 

 suffering from a severe attack of sea sickness, accompanied by 

 diarrhoea and cramps in the ahdoraen. However, I was perfectly 

 recovered next day; not so, however, with the French lady, 

 who was of rather a bilious temperament, and partaking of more 

 of the nut than I did, she was laid up in bed for the space of a 

 week, but eventually recovered under medical treatment. Before 

 the colonisation of this country, the aborigines made use of the 

 nuts ; and the starch procured from the nuts and the roots was 

 one of the chief supplies of their farinaceous food ; but in order 

 to get rid of the deleterious qualities of the contents of the nut, 

 they were exposed to a constant stream of water on a sheet of 

 bark for some days, and afterwards thoroughly roasted. Being 

 desirous of ascertaining the nature of the poisonous material 

 contained in the nut and tuber, I requested Mr. Norrie, chemist, 

 of "William-street, some time ago to make an analysis, and report 

 upon it. He wrote to me afterwards as follows : — "I have the 

 pleasure now to give you some account of my examination of the 

 nuts of the Macrozamia spiralis. In the first place, the seeds 

 were perfectly dry. On removing the shell and epidermis and 

 ^ pulping the seed, I obtained a large quantity of starch and 

 ^ gluten ; testing the soluble portion, it was found to have a decided 

 acid re-action ; lime-water throws down oxalic acid in the shape 

 of oxalate of lime ; continuing my investigations further, I find 

 a potash salt and isolate binoxalate of potash, which is the 

 poisonous substance contained in these nuts. There is also every 

 appearance of an alkaloid crystallizing in prisms, but the quantity 

 operated on was so small that I could only get a microscopic 

 specimen, it therefore requires further examination upon a larger 

 quantity of material to test its particular properties. These 

 seeds contain also vegetable albumen, gum, and sugar; and conse- 

 quently as an article of food, as used by the blacks, they are of no 

 mean value ; for it must be remembered that in the roasting of 

 these nuts, the binoxalate of potash would be converted at a low 

 red heat into carbonate, modifying or completely destroying the 

 poisonous properties." 



Mr. Henry Moss, of Shoalhaven, has been for some time past 

 engaged in manufacturing an edible starch from the nuts and 

 tuber of the Macrozamia. The means he uses are these : he has 

 the shells broken away from the nuts, then placed in tubs of cold 

 water, and pounded quite soft with a wooden rammer, then 

 roughly strained to get all the debris away, than strained through 

 fine cloth and the liquid allowed to stand for forty-eight hours in 

 a long cask ; spill holes are made in the cask, a few inches from 

 the bottom., so that the water can be drawn off without disturb- 

 ing the " sediment. After draining and adding fresh water, the 



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