480 POISONS I THEIR EFFECTS AND DETECTION. [§§ 615 , 6 l 6 . 
The Tutu plants are highly toxic to animals which have not become 
immune by eating small quantities ; for the native cattle in the Tutu 
districts apparently consume moderate amounts of the shrubs with 
impunity, whereas other cattle become seriously ill. Both coriamyrtin 
and tutin belong pharmacologically to the picrotoxin group of substances. 
Tutin is somewhat less toxic than coriamyrtin. There is first depression, 
followed by salivation ; the pulse is slowed, the respirations increased in 
frequency, and, finally, clonic convulsions occur : 129 mgrms. killed a 
kitten weighing 1 kilogrm. in 40 minutes ; 1 mgrm. induced in a cat, 
2 kilogrms. in weight, a convulsive seizure, and the animal did not 
recover for twenty-four hours. 
The method of extracting tutin is, briefly, as follows :—The plant, 
finely divided, is boiled with water, this aqueous extract precipitated by 
alcohol, the filtrate freed from alcohol, and the tutin extracted by ether. 
VI.—The Poison of Illicium Religiosum—A Japanese Plant. 
§ 615. A new poison belonging to the picrotoxin class has been described by Dr 
A. Langaard. In 1880, 5 children in Japan were poisoned by the seeds of the 
Illicium religiosum : 3 of the children died. Dr Langaard then made various ex¬ 
periments on animals with an active extract prepared by exhaustion with spirit, and 
ultimate solution of the extract in water. Eykmann has also imperfectly examined 
the chemistry of the plant, and has succeeded in isolating a crystalline body which 
is not a glucoside ; it is soluble in hot water, in chloroform, ether, alcohol, and 
acetic acid, but it is insoluble in petroleum ether ; it melts at 175°, and above that 
temperature gives an oily sublimate. Langaard’s conclusions are that all parts of 
the plant are poisonous. The poison produces excitation of the central apparatus of 
the medulla oblongata and clonic convulsions analogous to those produced by picro¬ 
toxin, toxiresin, and cicutoxin. Before the occurrence of convulsions, the reflex ex¬ 
citability of frogs is diminished, the respiratory centre is stimulated, hence frequency 
of the respiration. Small doses cause slowing of the pulse through stimulation of the 
vagus and of the peripheral terminations of the vagus ; in the heart the functional 
activity is later diminished. Small doses kill by paralysing the respiratory centre; 
large, by heart paralysis. The proper treatment seems to be by chloral hydrate, for 
when animals are poisoned by small lethal doses it appears to save life, although 
when the dose is large it has no effect.—“Ueber die Giftwirkung von japanischem 
Sfcernanis (Illicium religiosum, Sieb.),” Virch. Archiv, lxxxvi. 222, 1881. 
VII.—Picric Acid and Pierates 
OH 
§ 616. Picric Acid, C 6 H 3 N 3 0 7 , or CgH^ is trinitrophenol; it 
(N0 2 ) 3 
forms a number of salts, all of which are more or less poisonous. Picric 
acid is much used in the arts, especially as a dye. The pure substance 
is in the form of pale yellow crystals, not very soluble in cold water, 
but readily soluble in hot water, and readily soluble in benzene, ether, 
and petroleum ether. The solution is yellow, tastes bitter, and dyes 
