January 14,1871.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
565 
THE EXTRACTION OF THE POISONOUS PRINCIPLE 
OF THE TUTU PLANT (CORIARIA RUSCIFOLIA). 
BY W. SKEY, 
Analyst to the Gcoloyical Survey of New Zealand. 
A great many experiments have, from time to time, 
been made upon the Tutu plant, with the object of ex¬ 
tracting the formidable poison known by sad experience 
to exist therein ; but, as is well known, these attempts 
have been always unsuccessful, and have, besides, com¬ 
pletely failed to discover anything at all definite as to 
the chemical or physical character of the poison. 
Among these experiments is a series I made while 
connected with the Geological Survey Department of 
Otago, a notice of which appeared in the “Jurors’ Re¬ 
port for the New Zealand Exhibition of 1865,’,’ the only 
result, however, being to prepare the way for future 
inquiry, which was promised at the time. 
The Tutu plant does not grow in the neighbourhood 
of Wellington in any quantity, hence I have been greatly 
delayed in fulfilling my promise, much against my will; 
but recently a large quantity of the seed of this plant 
has been kindly presented to the Survey, for this par¬ 
ticular purpose, by Mr. H. H. Travers, and upon this I 
at once commenced operations. 
The plan I adopted was to separate, as well as I could, 
all the more immediate proximate constituents of the 
seed (in which the poison is known to exist), and to test 
each likely one by itself, in its effects upon the animal 
economy. 
First, I extracted a portion of the finely-ground seed 
with cold water, and another portion with weakly acidi¬ 
fied water, and treated them separately by a new process, 
now much in vogue, for the separation of alkaloids 
(Rogers and Girwood), all the evaporations being con¬ 
ducted at a temperature not exceeding 90° F. 
The residuum from these processes was very small, 
and gave no indications of the presence of alkaloids to 
the proper tests ; it consisted almost wholly of gummy 
matters. 
The result seemed to dispose of all that was soluble in 
water or weak acids, and, to a certain extent, impugned 
the correctness of the general idea that this poison is of 
the nature of an alkaloid. 
The part of the seed insoluble in these reagents was 
next examined. 
Alcohol was passed through this repeatedly and the 
extract evaporated, when a large quantity of a greenish- 
red coloured substance discovered itself. This, treated 
with ether, separated into two parts, one a green-coloured 
oil, soluble therein, the other a resinous substance quite 
insoluble in this menstruum. 
The resinoid substance was reserved for after-examina¬ 
tion, and the oil at once tested in regard to its effects on 
the animal economy. 
For this purpose I administered about five minims of 
it to a full-grown cat, after a twelve hours’ fast; the oil 
acted as an emetic in a short time, and the greater por¬ 
tion of it was vomited. In half an hour, however, the 
animal showed signs of uneasiness, and convulsive 
twitches of the ears and eyes, together with a forward 
jerking of the head, took; place, also much frothing of 
the mouth, culminating in a convulsive fit, in about one 
hour after the dose was administered. After a little 
while this fit passed off, only the twitches and forward 
jerkings continuing; but a second very severe fit, of 
short duration, occurred in about one hour afterwards, 
after which the cat gradually rallied. These symptoms 
agreed generally with those exhibited by cattle and sheep 
when poisoned by this plant. 
Although I have made but one experiment, I think it 
will be allowed that the result of this has fairly proved 
that the poison of the seed, and so, by a very proper 
inference, the poison of the plant generally—since I find 
an oily substance throughout it —exists in this oil, if it is 
not the oil itself. It therefore now only remains to be 
ascertained whether this oil is a single proximate sub¬ 
stance or a mixture or compound of such, and if the 
latter, which is, or which are, the active ones concerned 
in the production of these phenomena I have described. 
Unfortunately, I had not sufficient of the oil to allow 
me to test this properly, but I am in hopes of having it 
shortly, as I have been promised a large quantity of these 
seeds from Taranaki. 
The following are the characteristics of this oil, as 
ascertained up to the present time. 
Somewhat viscid at common temperature, but flowing 
freely at a little above this; colour, pale green; reaction, 
acid; taste, bland; burns away readily with much 
flame ; scarcely volatile without decomposition; soluble 
in ether, alcohol, chloroform, and strong acetic acid; 
insoluble in hydrochloric or nitric acid; also insoluble in 
water; does not dry when long exposed to the air. 
When boiled with solutions of the caustic alkalies 
there is much frothing, but only a portion of the oil dis¬ 
solves, even when the boiling is continued for many 
hours ; the portion dissolved was found to be saponified. 
The whole of the oil is, however, soluble in a cold alco¬ 
holic solution of potash, without yielding a precipitate 
when admixed with water ; hence it is probable that all 
the acid portion of the oil is really saponifiable,—that 
which was unsaponifiable, in the first instance, being a 
product of the metamorphosis of a portion of the normal 
oil by the process employed. 
When the oil is heated to. the decomposing-point, a 
substance is given off' having the pungent odour of 
acrolein, a substance characteristic of the presence of 
glycerine, or oxide of lipyle, the base of common fatty 
bodies. 
Heated with caustic alkalies, either in the wet or the 
dry way, there are no alkaline vapours evolved, but in 
the latter case an odorous oil forms, probably oenanthylic 
acid. 
From the reaction of this oil, here described, it evi¬ 
dently belongs to the series of non-drying fixed oils; in 
its solubility in alcohol or acetic acid, it bears a remark¬ 
able resemblance to castor oil, the only other fixed oil 
which I find to be wholly soluble in acetic acid. Now, 
castor oil, it will be remembered, is a very peculiar oil. 
It does not contain any of the acids of the common oils 
or fats, but in place of them, two very singular acids, 
quite peculiar, I believe, to this variety of oil; hence 
I conceive the acid part of this oil of Tutu to be also 
quite distinct from the ordinary fatty acids ; to be, in 
all probability, peculiar to it; and to one or more ot 
these acids I should ascribe the poisonous effects of the 
oil. 
If further experiments should confirm the correctness 
of the views here stated, this case will, I conceive, be¬ 
come invested with an interest beyond that immediately 
under our notice, since it will offer another instance in 
which a non-nitrogenous oily principle is proved to affect 
the system like a neurotic poison, this class of poisons 
being almost always alkaloids, or at least nitrogenous 
substances. 
Now it will be remembered there are several poisonous 
plants in Europe which have, hitherto, refused to yield 
any pure poisonous principle to chemical processes, but 
then these processes have been, as a general rule, I 
believe, especially for the detection of alkaloids. With 
this case to point, therefore, it does seem in the highest 
degree probable that, in some of these cases, at least, 
the poisonous effects may be due to a non-nitrogenous 
oil, not yet isolated or examined. In view of this I 
have recommended the subject for examination to a 
friend of mine residing in England, so that I expect 
in a few months to hear something more of this, or else 
to have selections of seeds, etc., from the plants I have 
named in my letter, so that I can inquire into this sub¬ 
ject myself.* _ 
* Since this paper was read, I learn ironi the Chemical 
Neivs (vul. xx. p. 70) that M. Van Ankum his discovered 
