OLEANDER. 6 



.> 



upon truth. Lindley (VegeL Syst.) says, "the common 

 Oleander, although little suspected, is a formidable poison; 

 a decoction of its leaves forms a wash, employed in the south 

 of Europe to destroy cutaneous vermin, and its powdered 

 wood and bark constitute at Nice the basis of an efficacious 



rat poison." 



A few years ago, a child died from having eaten, one morn- 

 ing,. a quantity of Oleander flowers; it was seized with violent 

 colic, under which it sank in two days. 



In 1809, when the French troops were lying before Madrid, 

 some of the soldiers went a-marauding, every one bringing back 

 such provisions as could be found. One soldier formed the 

 unfortunate idea of cutting the branches of the Oleander for 

 spits and skewers for the meat when roasting. This tree, it 

 may be observed, is very common in Spain, where it attains 

 considerable dimensions. The wood having been stripped of 

 its bark, and brought in contact with the meat, was productive 

 of the most direful consequences, for of twelve soldiers who ate 

 of the roast, seven died, the other five were dangerously ill 

 (Gardener's Chronicle, 1844, p 23). 



A soldier of the French African army employed a branch of 

 this shrub for the purpose of stirring some soup, which he was 

 preparing for his comrades. Five men who partook of this 

 soup were seized with the following symptoms: — Great rest- 

 lessness, a wildness and prominence of the eyes, dilated 

 pupils, vertigo, slight convulsions, pain in the abdomen, 



vomiting of a greenish-coloured liquid, and insensibility. They 

 all recovered in eight days (Canstatt, Jahrbuch, 1844 # vol. ii. 

 p. 95). 



Orfila (Tox. Gen., vol. ii. p. 439) states that Nerium exerts 

 a narcotic action of the brain and an irritant action of the 

 alimentary canal. The whole of the plant is poisonous; and 

 it is said that the honey of bees which feed on the flowers of 

 this plant, in certain districts, is liable to produce injurious 

 effects. Even the vapour of the flowers, in a confined apart- 



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