POISONING BY PRIMULA

'JT'iJaO UGH -contact with om of -the commonest. winter flowering plants in suourban gardens, a Sydney professional gardener has for seven months lain at the poiiit oi death (says an Australian paper). His ease is regarded by specialists as extraordinary, and emphasises the unrecognised menace to amateur gardeners, and others in one of our most popular garden plants. Mt. Spall no is a well-known Sydney master-gardener, whose skill m his profession is proverbial. jfiarly this year Air. Spnh.no was at won; on a flower-bed bordered by the ornamental plant, known as iritmda Alulatoides. iie had a small cut or abrasion on Ills hand which he had not- covered with a bahdage, believing the hurt trivial. During his wont this injtneu hand tame into contact with several o. the border primulas. Later in the day he was using a spray containing lime and sulpnur, some of which i-eit on the cut, sealing it. Thereafter the trouble, which was believed due to the primula, began. His hand swelled up and turned black. Aladdening paui and irritation set in, and he grew so ill that a doctor was called and the patient was hurried to the Royal crince Alfred Hospital as a case of acute “blood-poisoning..’ . “Blood-poisoning" is a term which is usually comined to general invasion of the body by the germs of sepsis, which have gained access through some break in the skin. It was soon discovered, however, that Air. Spah.no s symptoms were not tvpi.al of the usual germ-in lection. In his case the skin turned black and ultimately peeled off, and, spreading .rom his originally infected hand, maddening irritation set in which the physicians were unable to alleviate. For a time his life was despaired of.

Sain disease expeits were how called n and' many leading Macquarie Street specialists saw the patient, whose case admittedly puzzled them. Finally they came to the conclusion that the case was actually one of “Primula-poison-ing.”

That the Primula can he an excessively dangerous plant Was recognised in England as far back as 1910, when there was an outbreak of poisoning among pro.essional gardeners. At that time a < raze started for a hothouse j>lant named Primula Obcoricin. known popularly as Chinese Primrose. Yben handled, minute hairs of the hint remained on the skin, setting up first itching and then a spreading iniammatipn which proved very difficult of treatment. The Primula" favoured

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bv Australian gardeners is th© Alalacoides type, -a hardy plant which in this climate can be grown anywhere out-01-doors. up to the present -it has not teen considered particularly poisonous. : in tue ease of Air. Spahno, however, die poisoning was of a viruleiit type, and vyvhat is a disquieting point), spread in spite or the physicians' euorts, to cover the whole of - liis oedy. No treatment could bring relic*. finally, after Mr. spahno had been <se. eral weeks in hospital, the ao. tors saiu they could do nothing lurtner, and he was taken home. He is stiu rcdnudcn, having remained thus .or seven months. His wire says there lias been no change in liis conuit ion since he lelt me Hospital, which v a.s tlie physician. s could not- alleviate ms suae rings} Tie left in little better condition than he entered. This ease is ol unique interest both to the medLal profession and the layman. Aamitteuly- there is some doubt as to the extent of the role played by the primula in the original seizure. But- there seems little doubt as to the him! result being due to the plant-or to fairly frequent occurrence of prim-ult-ponsoning among gardeners (cither amateur or professional), who handle tile plant. , _ ■ . One well-known, skin specialist .consulted by “Smith's” said that Primula Alala.oides was responsible tor many minor cases of poisoning, and\ that there was some doubt as to the source of the piant-poison, some,, believing it a. toxin contained in the pollen. ’ Apparently such types of plantpoisoning are not well understood. Recent research has unearthed a large class of skin-trouble due to common garden plants. The best known is that due to ' poison-ivy,” a creeper common in America. Another skin poison is contained m the ordinary daffodil and narcissus, and sets up “lily-rash” in flower-pickers when those blooms are grown commercially. Stiff another exists in ti-tree and many other types of eucalyptus. Air. J. H. Alaiden, doyen of stody of Australian gums, pointed out (so. long ago as 1904) that, grey gum, spotted gum, and “box” would set up dematitis (skin inflammation) no.t only to those handling them, but . to any susceptible person in their proximity. ’ The latter statement is signifcanl in view of the belief of some s dn-vspociaUsts that primula-poisoning . is- due to pollen, and hence might pos- ( sibly be carried to a human being by the wind.