THE  TOOT-POISON  OF  NEW  ZEALAND. 
257 
the  case  of  liquids  in  the  production  of  definite  figures,  as  it  does 
in  the  case  of  solids  in  building  up  crystals.  The  principle  has, 
I  believe,  been  admitted ;  but  I  have  made  no  great  progress 
in  its  practical  application,  partly  from  the  difficulty  I  have  had 
in  procuring  pure  specimens,  and  partly,  I  suppose,  from  my 
preference  for  scientific  inquiry,  rather  than  practical  appli- 
cation. 
In  conclusion,  I  must  thank  Professor  Bentley  for  a  very  good 
specimen  of  wood  oil,  which  I  believe  has  been  imported  aa 
East  India  copaiba.  It  makes  a  very  good  figure,  a  sort  of 
inferior  copaiba  figure  on  a  small  scale  ;  but  it  cannot  for  a 
moment  be  mistaken  for  copaiba,  or  any  other  figure  that  I  am 
acquainted  with.  I  have  not  tried  the  effect  of  it  when  mixed 
with  copaiba,  nor  have  I  had  an  opportunity  of  examining  jatropa 
oil,  which  is  sometimes  mixed  with  copaiba.  There  can  be  no 
difficulty  in  detecting  admixtures  of  turpentine  by  this  method. 
I  must  also  take  the  opportunity  of  Professor  Miller's  pres- 
ence here  to-night,  to  thank  him  for  the  warm  interest  which 
he  has  taken  in  this  subject  from  the  first.  He  witnessed  my 
earliest  experiments,  and  it  is  owing  to  his  encouragement  and 
advice  that  I  have  been  induced  from  time  to  time  to  push  on 
with  the  inquiry. — London  Pharm.  Journ,,  March,  1864. 
THE  TOOT-POISON  OF  NEW  ZEALAND. 
By  W.  Lauder  Lindsay,  M.  D.  and  F.  R.  S.  Edin.,  F.  L.  S.,  etc. 
During  a  tour  through  the  New  Zealand  provinces  in  1861- 
62,  the  writer  was  struck  with  the  abundant  evidences  which 
everywhere  presented  themselves  of  the  ravages  produced  among 
the  flocks  and  herds  of  the  settlers  by  the  Toot-plant,  one  of  the 
most  common  indigenous  shrubs  of  those  islands.  In  many  cases 
of  losses  by  individual  settlers  brought  under  his  notice,  the 
amount  from  this  source  alone  had  been  from  twenty-five  to 
seventy-five  per  cent.  In  Otago  particularly  were  such  looses 
felt  during  the  height  of  the  gold  mania,  from  July  to  Decem- 
ber, 1861  :  the  traffic  between  Dunedin  and  Tuapeka  gold-fiolds 
requiring  the  service  of  large  numbers  of  bullocks,  a  great  pro- 
portion were  lost  by  Toot  poisoning.  In  colonies  whi  ;h  as  yet, 
at  least,  have  depended  for  their  prosperity  almost  solely  on 
17 
