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Effects of Administration of the Oils.
Practically all parts of the tutu-plant, but especially the seeds, contain a considerable amount of a green-coloured oil—“oil of tutu”—which was believed by the earlier workers (Skey, Christie) to be or to contain the poisonous principle. That the latter supposition was the correct one was proved by Easterfield and Aston, who showed that tutin, quite apart from the oil, was sufficiently active and abundant to account for most, if not all, of the symptoms of tutu poisoning. The question still remained, however, whether the oil or oils had any action which if not toxic itself might influence the toxicity of the tutin. To throw some light on this I used the oil as obtained by extraction with mineral naphtha, which had proved itself a good solvent for oil, while it was unlikely to dissolve tutin, as this substance had been shown by Easterfield and Aston to be insoluble in benzene. Chloroform extracts were also investigated, because it was noticed that, after naphtha extraction had been carried on till the extracts were colourless, chloroform was still able to extract some green-coloured oil, probably another fraction of the mixture of oils present. The following experiments were done:—
| (a.) |
50 grm. seed (sample II) was extracted first with mineral naphtha till the extracts were colourless, then with chloroform. The chloroform-soluble part was mixed with a little alcohol and added to water, the result being a fine precipitate or suspension of the oil. This was administered to a rabbit by stomach-tube. The animal became unconscious, and remained so for about three hours. Next day it appeared to be quite well. The symptoms were probably due to the dose of alcohol, which unfortunately was not measured. No distinct tutin effects were observed. |
| (b.) |
A quantity of the oil extracted with naphtha was freed from all but traces of the solvent by heating it on a water bath; some olive-oil was added, and a small amount of egg-white and 1 per cent. sodium carbonate. The mixture was then emulsified by shaking, and administered by stomach-tube. No symptoms developed beyond some somnolescence. The amount of green oil given would amount to about 10 grm. = 8 grm. per kilogram for the rabbit used. |
| (c.) |
50 grm. seed (sample II) was extracted with alcohol, and the residue extracted with chloroform. A considerable amount of green oil resulted. This was boiled with about a litre of water, filtered, and evaporated down on a water bath More “oil” continued to separate as evaporation proceeded, and was removed by filtration. The final result was 10 c.c. of watery extract of the “oils.” Of this 5 c.c. was administered by hypodermic injection to a medium-sized rabbit. No symptoms followed. |
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| (d.) |
20 grm. seed (sample I), previously extracted with naphtha, was extracted with chloroform, which removed a further quantity of green oil. After driving off the chloroform the oily residue was extracted with 100 c.c. water, filtered, and concentrated to 10 c.c. Of this 5 c.c. given hypodermically produced no symptoms. |
The conclusion to be drawn from these experiments is that the oil, or oils, has no toxic action. It is probable that the chloroform extracts contained some tutin, for tutin is soluble therein to a small extent, but the amount was either originally too small to produce symptoms or it underwent destruction in making the hot-water extracts.