A NOTE ON RENGAS POISONING. 



BY 



W . C . BROWN, m . D . 



a. 



HE commonest of the various species of Rengas is 



Melanorrhcea Curtisii Oliv, a tall and handsomely 



foliaged jungle tree which flourishes luxuriantly on 



J{W\ many of the hill slopes of the Malay Peninsula, 



and extends northwards as far as the Southern 



Provinces of Burma. All the trees of this family 



contain in abundance an acrid sap, which is well known to 



native woodmen as a substance that, coming in contact with 



the skin, produces disagreeable and even dangerous results. 



If the healthy skin is rubbed lightly with the juice from a 

 freshly cut twig, violent inflammation, with smarting and 

 burning pain, follows within twenty-four hours, and results in 

 a characteristic pustular eruption— an eruption of blebs filled 

 with matter. If the injured surface be of any extent, fever 

 and other constitutional disturbances follow the local injury. 

 When a large extent of skin has been affected, as happens 

 when a native with unprotected body struggles through 

 broken branches, this fever is said to be so irritant and 

 septic that it not infrequently ends fatally. I have not, 

 however, seen a case of such gravity, but from the pecu- 

 liarly severe symptoms produced by the sap on a small 

 surface there can be little doubt but that where a large ex- 

 tent of skin is involved, the consequences might be most 

 serious. An extract or tincture of the twigs made by soak- 

 ing them in proof spirit has active blistering properties, and 

 might be of value in medicine as a counter-irritant, did we 

 not possess in croton oil and tartarated antimony remedies 



