and the Plant from which it is extracted. 423 



spike from his sarima* and fixed it to his arrow. Cautiously 

 he stole upon the unsuspecting deer, and shot the arrow into 

 its neck; it made a jump in the air, fled with the speed of the 

 wind over the savannahs, but it had scarcely run forty yards 

 when it fell panting to the ground, and expired. Von Hum- 

 boldt has already related that its effect is more or less sudden 

 upon different animals. If the poison be good and the arrow 

 has entered a sufficient depth, it has effect upon the strongest 

 bull in four to five minutes, while a fowl may resist it double 

 that time. The Indians say that monkeys and jaguars are 

 easier killed with it than any other animal. 



The poison keeps its efficacy for a length of time. I brought 

 with me at my return to Europe in 1839 a small calabash of 

 the Urari, which had been made in May 1839 in my presence. 

 I made several experiments with it in August 1840, and I 

 found that it killed a rabbit in four to five minutes. Mr. 

 Sewell, veterinary surgeon in London, whom we thank for 

 several experiments to apply the Urari as a remedy in tetanus 

 of horses, received through me some of the same poison, and 

 found it effective. While in Potsdam I gave a small quan- 

 tity to M. Desenis, who wounded several animals with it, 

 and found that it deprived of life a rabbit in eight minutes, a 

 cat in four and a half, and a pigeon in six minutes f. On 

 dissecting the animals which had been killed by means of the 

 Urari, it will be generally found that there are no signs of in- 

 flammation either in the lungs, stomach, or any other part, 

 which, with regard to medical jurisprudence, proves this poi- 

 son to be the more dangerous, as, should it be employed for 

 sinister purposes by man against his fellow- creature, it would 

 be difficult to say by a post mortem examination of what the 

 victim died. In some of the rabbits on which I tried expe- 

 riments. Dr. Franz found a large quantity of blood in the 

 brain and the spinal cord. 



I have already alluded to Mr. SewelPs experiments, who, 

 viewing the lock-jaw in horses as the result of irritation, con- 

 jectures that " if a horse in tetanus were destroyed by poison, 

 which acts by suppressing nervous power, and life were then 

 to be restored by artificial respiration, the nervous system, on 

 reanimation taking place, might possibly be free of the ori- 

 ginal morbid irritation.^^ Reasoning thus, Mr. Sewell tried 

 the following singular practice : " A horse suffering from a 



* Sarima, a small case made of bamboo, and covered with tapir- or deer- 

 skin, and in which the Indian keeps the poisoned arrows until he stands in 

 need of them. It is generally worn round the neck. 



t I presented the small calabash with the remaining poison to the Berlin 

 Museum. 



