I 
THE  TOOT-POISON  OF  NEW  ZEALAND.  261 
announces  his  belief  that  the  whole  genus  Coriaria  must  be  con- 
sidered endowed  with  poisonous  properties,  probably  of  the  nar- 
cotico-irritant  class,  and  that,  as  such  (especially  in  reference 
to  the  extent  and  importance  of  the  economic  losses  caused  by 
such  species  as  Toot),  it  is  eminently  deserving  of  thorough 
scientific  investigation. 
Under  this  head  he  may  point  out  the  fact  that — 
a.  While  certain  animals  seem  to  be  themselves  exempt 
from,  or  insusceptible  to,  the  action  of  the  poison,  they  may,  by 
feeding  upon  certain  species,  or  certain  parts  of  some  species  of 
Coriaria,  and  thereby  assimilating  or  secreting  the  contained 
poison  in  their  tissues,  communicate  poisonous  effects,  or 
become  poisons,  to  man  or  the  lower  animals,  to  which 
they  (the  animals  first  mentioned)  have  become  articles  of  diet. 
He  would  cite  a  recent  instance  in  connection  with  C.  myrtifo- 
lia^  in  which  several  persons  near  Toulouse  were  poisoned  by  a 
dish  of  snails  which  had  been  fattened  on  its  leaves  and  shoots. 
b.  That  Royle,  in  reference  to  the  fruit  of  C.  Nepalensis,  Pes- 
chier,  of  Geneva,  in  regard  to  C.  myrtifolia,  and  other  authori- 
ties in  regard  to  other  species  of  Coriaria,  have  published  instan- 
ces of  their  harmless  or  even  beneficial  effects,  under  certain 
circumstances,  on  man  or  the  lower  animals.  Such  conflicting 
statements  would  appear  to  indicate  that  there  are  peculiarities 
in  the  action  of  the  poisonous  principles  of  all  the  Coriarias,  or 
discrepancies  in  the  records  of  instances  of  the  said  action,  which 
discrepancies  or  peculiarities  demand  reconciliation  or  explana- 
tion at  the  hands  of  competent  scientific  experts.— Pharm. 
Journ.,  Lond.,  February,  1864,  from  Proceedings  of  the  Br  itish 
Association. 
issued  that  the  Government  communications  should  in  future  be  written 
with  the  vegetable  juice.  ...  I  do  not  vouch  for  the  correctness  of  this 
statement,  but  I  have  constantly  heard  it  repeated  from  differentsources. 
I  generally  use  this  ink  in  preference  to  the  commercial  article,  as  it  is 
not  so  apt  to  corrode  the  steel  pen.  The  present  note  is  written  with  it, 
and  has  no  admixture  whatever,  being  only  yesterday  expressed  from  the 
fruit.  When  newly  written,  its  color  is  reddish,  becoming  black  after  a 
few  hours." — Ed.  Pharm.  Journ. 
