PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS — SECTION B. 41 
shown that the physiological action of pituri is identical with that of 
nicotine. 
Iledley* * * § states that the Port Curtis blacks dry and smoke the 
leaves of Adriana acerifolia , Hook, a Euphorbiaceous plant, as a 
substitute for tobacco ; and Mr. Nicholas lloltze informs me that the 
Daly River blacks smoke the leaves of Amor plio phallus variabilis , 
Blume, in the Northern Territory. Roth of these plants await the 
attention of the chemist. 
Our common Native Tobacco ( Nicotiana suctveolens , Lehm.), 
although possessing the same physiological action as ordinary smoking 
tobacco, appears never to have been used by the blacks. Jt could not 
be conveniently used for smoking purposes, as the leaves have no 
substance, and fall to powder when dry. 1 would suggest that this 
species be subjected to a complete analysis by the chemist. 
FISH POISONS OF THE ABORIGINES. 
I would suggest to chemists the propriety of investigating the 
various plants which have been employed by the aborigines in different 
parts of this continent for throwing in rivers or waterholes for the 
purpose of stupefying fish so that they may be readily caught. I 
Lave enumerated a number of them in a recent articlef on the subject 
to which I venture to refer my hearers. 
GUMS. 
The difficulty in procuring samples of many gums, resins, and 
kinos is enhanced by their capricious exudation, and the rapidity with 
■which they are affected by the rain and other atmospheric influences. 
It is also often very difficult to authenticate material, which sometimes 
becomes useless to the experimenter for that reason. Some gums, 
<fcc., exude in very small quantities, so that the patience of the 
investigator is sorely tried. I have numbers of such substances 
varying in weight from only a few grains to an ounce, of witch I have 
been unsuccessfully endeavouring for years to collect additional 
quantities for research. 
Wattle gums, the products of the genus Acacia, so very largely 
developed in Australia, form a regular article of export to Europe. 
Those from the interior (climatically like the deserts of Egypt) are, 
comparatively, light-coloured and soluble ; those from the well- watered 
coast and mountain districts are more insoluble (some merely swelling 
np in water), aud often dark-coloured. The gum-yielding species 
are very numerous, so the variability in composition and appearance 
is readily accounted for. The gum of Acacia dealbaia , which with 
us is usually rather insoluble, yields in Java (presumably from 
cultivated trees) a soluble gum, on the authority of Dr. de Vrij.J 
Gum of the same species grown in Erance, and examined by Ileckel 
and Schlagdenhauffen§, is also more soluble than with us, thus 
indicating that changes in gums may be brought about by cultivation 
of the plants yielding them. In the present instance the matter is 
important, as the greater the solubility in water the greater the 
commercial value. 
* Proc. R.S. Qd., v. p. 13. 
f Agric. Gazette N.S.W., v., 470 (July, 1894). 
t Chem. and Drugg., 20th August, 1892, p. 200. 
§ Le Naturaliste, 1st July, 1890, p. 151. 
