THE PHARMACOLOGICAL ACTION OF TUTU. 289 



the oil was a fixed oil, and consisted of esters of peculiar fatty acids, to one or more of 

 which acids he ascribed the poisonous effects obtained. In the following year Hughes * 

 endeavoured to show that the active principle was an. alkaloid ; but the crystalline 

 principle he isolated was not properly examined, and his experiments are otherwise 

 unconvincing. Nothing further was done until 1900, when Easterfield and Aston,! 

 by extracting a purified decoction of the plant with ether, obtained a crystalline 

 glucoside from each of the three kinds of tutu. This substance, which they termed 

 tutin, and to which they ascribed the formula C 17 H 20 O 7 , has proved to be the active 

 principle of the plant. It was sent to me for pharmacological investigation, and I 

 desire at this point to express my indebtedness to them for the material with which 

 they have supplied me. 



Other substances were isolated from the three species of Coriaria investigated : 

 quercetin from C. ihymifolia ; acetic, gallic, succinic, and a few other well-known acids 

 from C ruscifolia ; and a volatile acid, C 8 H 8 4 , which has not been identified, from 

 C. angustissima ; but these are obviously not the cause of the physiological activity of 

 the toot plant. 



Previous Pharmacological Investigations. 



Apart from the published descriptions of accidental cases of poisoning in man and 

 animals, and the solitary experiment of Skey already mentioned, our knowledge of the 

 action of tutu is limited to a few experiments made by Mr AchesonJ and to an 

 investigation of Dr W. Ledingham Christie. § 



Acheson administered an aqueous extract prepared by Hughes to dogs and cats, 

 and noticed, after giving 15 grains or more, increased frequency of respiration, with 

 slight twitchings of the extremities followed by severe attacks of convulsions. He 

 found that the extract rapidly decomposed, and after a few days gave practically no 

 pharmacological action, and that lime decomposed the poison and seemed to act as an 

 antidote. 



Christie's investigation included some observations on the effect produced by 

 different doses of a crude extract, and some experiments to determine the mode of 

 action of the drug. After the administration of small doses of an aqueous extract by 

 the mouth or hypodermically to dogs and cats, he observed salivation and apparent 

 nausea, and after somewhat larger doses vomiting also. Still larger amounts (corre- 

 sponding to 40-50 grains of the leaf) caused in addition, and commencing within half 

 an hour, " twitching of the smallest muscles, as those of the eyes, nose, and ears. Then 

 the muscles in front of the neck began to jerk, the fore paws began to follow suit, 

 and soon the hind limbs and tail were affected." Early and late dyspnoea, erection of 

 hairs, and increased frequency of micturition and defecation were noted. The vomiting 

 he believed to be partly gastric but mainly medullary in origin ; the early dyspnoea 



* Trans. N.Z. Instit., vol. iii. p. 237 [1870]. t Trans. Ghern. Soc, vol. Ixxix. p. 120 [1900]. 



{ Trans. N.Z. Instit, vol. iii. p. 241 [1870]. § N.Z. Med. Journ., 1890, July and October. 



