372 
THE TOOT-POISON OF NEW ZEALAND. 
mania, from July to December, 18G1: the traffic between Dunedin and Tuapeka gold¬ 
fields requiring the service of large numbers of bullocks, a great proportion were 
lost by Toot-poisoning. In colonies which as yet, at least, have depended for their 
prosperity almost solely on pastoral enterprise, such losses form a material barrier to pro¬ 
sperity ; and the concurrent testimony of the colonists in every part of New Zealand 
proves the great desirability of determining the nature of the Toot-poison, the laws of 
its action on man and the lower animals, and its appropriate antidotes or modes of treat¬ 
ment. With a view to assist in the attainment of these aims, the writer had made notes, 
on the spot, of a large number of instances of the poisonous or fatal action of the plant 
on man—adults as well as children—and the lower animals, and had brought specimens 
home for chemical examination. The chief results of his investigations may be thus 
stated:— 
1. The Toot-poison belongs to the class of Narcotic-irritants. 
a. Its action on man includes the following symptoms :—coma, with or without deli¬ 
rium ; sometimes great muscular excitement or convulsions, the details differing in 
different individuals; during convalescence, loss of memory, with or without vertigo. 
b. In cattle and sheep, they include vertigo, stupor, delirium, and convulsions ; 
curious staggerings and gyrations; frantic kicking and racing or coursing ; tremors. 
2. The poisonous portion of the plant, 
a. To man, is generally the seed, which is contained in a beautiful, dark purple, lusci¬ 
ous berry, resembling the blackberry, which clusters closely in rich pendent racemes, and 
which is most tempting to children; occasionally the young shoots of the plant, as it 
grows up in spring. 
b. To cattle and sheep, in almost all cases, is the young shoot, which is tender, and 
succulent, resembling in appearance and taste the similar state of asparagus. 
3. The following Peculiarities exist in regard to the action of the Toot-poison :— 
a. A predisposition must exist, such predisposition being produced in cattle and sheep 
by some of the following conditions or circumstances :—The animal is not habituated to 
the use of the plant; it suddenly makes a large meal thereof after long fasting, or long 
feeding on drier and less palatable materials, or after exhaustion by hard labour, or hot 
dry weather. From some such cause the digestive system is deranged, and is suscepti¬ 
ble of more serious disorder from the ingestion of food to which the animal is, at the 
time, unaccustomed. Hence Toot-poisoning frequently occurs in animals which have just 
been landed from a long and fatiguing sea-voyage, during which they have been under¬ 
fed or starved, to whom the young Toot-shoots present the most juicy, fresh, pleasant 
diet. 
b. On the other hand, the same kind of animals, habituated to the use of the Toot- 
plant, not only do not suffer at all, but for them it is regarded as quite equal in value to, 
and as safe as, clover as a pasture food. It is an equal favourite with cattle and sheep, 
whether they have been habituated or not. 
c. The predisposition in man is probably produced by analogous conditions depressing 
the tone of his nervous and digestive systems, or directly deranging them. Children are 
affected out of all proportion to adults. 
d. Adults who have suffered from the poisonous action of Toot under certain circum¬ 
stances have been exempt from such action under certain others,—the same parts of the 
plant having been used, and apparently in the same way, in both sets of instances. 
Moreover, the Toot-berries enjoy, both among the Maoris and colonists, an enviable no¬ 
toriety on account of the agreeable and harmless wine and jellies they are capable of 
yielding, the former whereof especially has long been greatly prized. The seeds, how¬ 
ever, in these cases probably do not enter into the composition of the said wine and 
jellies. 
4. The current Remedies for Toot-poisoning among the settlers are, in regard to— 
a. Cattle and sheep—mainly bleeding, by slashing the ears and tail. Belladonna has 
been variously tried, and favourably reported on; by others, stimulants are regarded as 
specifics (carbonate of ammonia, brandy, or a mixture of gin and turpentine, locally 
known as “ Drench ”). Whatever be the nature of the remedy, there is no difference of 
opinion as to the necessity for the promptest treatment, since, at a certain stage of the 
action of the poison, all remedies appear equally inefficacious. 
b. In man, the nature of the remedy is still more varied, though emetics and stimulants 
seem the most rational of those usually had recourse to. 
