1 June, 1899.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 467 
Anthelmintica, which is used asa taenicide, or remedy against tapeworm, by the 
natives, by whom it is alleged to be more effective for the purpose than Kuosso, 
whilst less disagreeable in taste. Many of the 320 species of our Australian. 
Acacias have been found by me to contain saponin all the year round—e.g., the 
New South Wales species (Acacia verniciflua, Cunn.), which is called ‘ dog- 
gece by the bushmen around Bathurst, and which is used as a fish poison by 
them. 
“ Other species are quite free from saponin at certain times of the year, and 
rich in it at other times, suchas Acacia Qunninghamii and A penninervis. These 
Brisbane black wattles blossom in the spring month of September, and show 
the pretty flowers for about a fortnight. After fertilisation has taken place, the 
pods begin to grow. In about 8 weeks they attain the length of 2 inches, with 
a narrow width and twisted appearance which has gained them the name of 
‘wattle curls’? from the school children in the bush. In this state the pods 
have a purely astringent taste. They contain about 20 per cent. of catechu- 
tannic acid, and not a trace of saponin. They continue to grow during the 
fourth week. The tannin then disappears gradually, whereas saponin by 
degrees takes its place. The astringent taste gives way to an extremely 
nauseous, acrid, and disagreeable sensation on the tongue, especially on the back 
parts and the sides of it. This taste creeps over the whole tongue, if even only 
the tip of it is brought into contact with the bruised pod. It continues long, 
and leaves a slight sense of numbness on the tongue. If the juice of the pod. 
is allowed to reach the back part of the tongue, it seems to irritate some 
branches of the nervus vagus, as it produces a short hacking cough, and the 
game sensation as when the inside of the ear or the skin behind the ear is 
scratched with a sharp instrument. 
“A watery infusion of the ‘wattle curls’ froths and forms a lather, when 
agitated, like a solution of soap, and this property 1s due to the saponin, which 
has been obtained pure by me from the pods. The tannin has to be removed 
first from the inspissated infusion or watery extract by shaking with ether, 
which does not dissolve the saponin. Chloroform then takes out the saponin, 
which can be estimated quantitatively after evaporation. It is a white powder, 
and is dissolved by sulphuric acid with a red colouration. I found 8 per cent. 
of saponin in the unripe pods of Acacia Ounninghamii. Saponin is a strong 
poison for the muscle and the nerve, producing anesthesia very much like the 
cocaine; but, besides this, it acts as a powerful irritant. I have seen many 
eases of so-called ‘sandy blight’ of the eyes of bush people at times when there 
was no sand and no wind, and in people where every suspicion of a specific 
infection was excluded. In one case it was easy for me to trace the real cause. 
The bushman, who suffered from a very acute conjunctivitis, with swelling of 
the lids, had the fingers of both hands covered with a sticky substance, which, 
‘on being washed away in a small basin, eaused a yery marked frothing in. the 
water. The ‘sandy blight’ of the woodcutter was caused by the juice of the 
“wattle curls,’ brought in contact with the eyes by wiping them with the hand. 
“The hypodermic injection of the extract of only one unripe pod of Acacia 
Cunninghamii into.the arm of a person caused great pain, swelling, and redness 
of the injected spot, nausea, and shivers; the extract of two pods caused 
headache, formications in the legs and arms, and paralysis of the accommodation 
of the eye and mydriasis. It is beyond doubt that the juice of six wattle pods, 
hypodermically injected, will kill a man. Injected into the leg of a frog (Ayla 
coerulea), it produced total insensibility of the leg against even the strongest 
local irritation, and total paralysis of the muscles.” : f 
As the commercial saponin, in doses of 2 drachms, 1s a deadly poison. to 
dogs, it may well be supposed. that a dose of 6 drachms would kill a man ; and 
this quantity is contained in the extract from only 2 Ib. of “ wattle curls.” 
There is one point left to be discussed—the occurrence of saponin in the 
Acacia leaves at the time when it is found to occur in the pods. Is it formed in 
the leaves, and does it migrate to the pods? Or, is it formed in the pods, and 
does it go to the other parts of the plants from there? The question 1s a 
