Poisoned by Tutu.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20391, 23 August 1934, Page 8

Poisoned by Tutu.

Nature Notes.

By

James Drummond,

F.L.S., F.Z.S.

TN THE EARLY DAYS, several boys in Auckland found a tutu bush bearing ripe berries. The elder boys sucked the juice of the berries through their teeth, and enjoyed it, suffering no harm. A younger brother four or five years of age, swallowed some berries. He became ill, was carried home within half an hour, and was given warmed milk, as much as an old Nova Scotian woman could force him to swallow*. The milk curdled in his stomach. He brought up all the seeds and was quite well the following day. Cutting an onion into halves, she placed pieces in his armpits. When they were taken off they were black. The old woman, who, with simple remedies for children’s ailments, was as good as a doctor, declared that tlie onion had absorbed any poison left in the boy’s system.