366 On the Botany of India. 



poison called Vislia, Visli, or Bikh, of which the following is some 

 account : 



* This dreadful root, of which large quantities are annually imported, 

 is equally fatal when taken into the stomach, or applied to wounds, and 

 is in universal use for poisoning arrows ; and there is too much reason to 

 suspect, for the worst of purposes. Its importation would indeed seem 

 to require the attention of the magistrates. The Gorkhalese pretend that 

 it is one of their principal securities against invasion from the low coun- 

 tries ; and that they would so infect all the waters on the route by which 

 an enemy was advancing, as to occasion his certain destruction. In case 

 of such an attempt, the invaders, no doubt, ought to be on their guard ; 

 but the country abounds so in springs that might be soon cleared, as to 

 render such a means of defence totally ineffectual, were the enemy aware 

 of the circumstance. This poisonous species is called Bish or Bikh, and 

 Hay day a Bish or Bikh; nor am I certain whether the Metha ought to 

 be referred to it, or to the foregoing kind. By referring to the experiments 

 of Professor Orfila, in his General Toxicology, and of Mr. Brodie, in the 

 Philosophical Transactions, it will be seen that the symptoms produced 

 by the Aconitum napellus are very similar to those produced by the 

 Aconitum ferox. Hence, then, it is most probable, that both species 

 contain the same active principle ; but the A. ferox must contain it in 

 much greater quantity, as its effects are so much more powerful. Indeed 

 the alcoholic extract of this root appears to be nearly equal in power to 

 Strychnine, Upas antiar, Upas tieute, and Woorara poisons. That it 

 is equal in power to Strychnine, I can speak from numerous experiments 

 which I have made with this latter ; but with respect to the activity of 

 the Upas and Woorara poisons, I can only speak from the experiments 

 of Ortila, Brodie, and others.' 



Ruellia gossypina, tab. 42, is a superb species, with leaves covered 

 with dense wool, and deep sky-blue flowers growing in numerous 

 panicles. Quercus spicata, tab. 46, is one of those gigantic oaks that 

 give a kind of European air to the flora of Nipal ; it bears its acorns 

 in spikes a foot long. Mucuna macrocarpa, tab. 47, is a bean with 

 flowers an inch and a-half, and pods afoot and a-half long: we are 

 told that the beauty of the blossoms compensates for their hairs en- 

 tering the skin and causing an intolerable burning. Justicia venusta, 

 tab. 66, is a charming branched plant with elegant panicles of rich 

 purple blossoms : it is now cultivated in England. Jilscynanthus 

 (jEsjchynanthus ?) ramosissima, tab. 71, is a parasitical shrub, bearing 

 umbels of orange and scarlet flowers, resembling our trumpet honey- 

 suckle, but scentless. Argyreia festiva, tab. 76, is a gigantic bind- 

 weed, with stems as thick as the wrist. Pongamia atropurpurea, 

 tab. 78, a vast tree bearing bunches of such inky purple flowers as 

 to resemble nothing so much as a plant in mourning ; and Bombax 

 insigne, tab. 79 and 80, is a magnificent cotton tree with superb 

 vivid red flowers, which fall from the trees in such profusion as to 

 form a thick bed of living fire. Wightia gigantea, tab. 81, is one of 

 those huge arborescent climbers, whose embrace is death, scrambling 

 to the tops of the highest trees, and overwhelming them with the 

 weight of their branches ; and Oxyspora paniculata, tab, 88, is re- 



