SEA-PIKES. 73 



they have only to observe if, in cutting it up, there 

 flows away a sort of white water, or rather a kind 

 of thin matter, which is, in every case, a certain 

 sign that the fish is in the diseased state of which 

 I have spoken above. D. Arthur O'Neill, Mar- 

 quis del Norte, has told me that he has seen expe- 

 riments tried on dogs, and that all have confirmed 

 the exactness of this criterion. The symptoms of 

 poisoning by the Barracoota are, a general trem- 

 bling, nausea, vomiting, and acute pains, particu- 

 larly in the joints of the arms and the hands. 

 Sometimes the symptoms succeed each other with 

 such rapidity that it becomes extremely difficult 

 to determine with precision the difierent periods 

 of the disease. 



" When death does not terminate the malady, 

 which happily is the more ordinary case, the virus 

 is sometimes seen to cause pathological pheno- 

 mena altogether singular. The pains in the joints 

 become stronger ; the nails of the feet and hands 

 gradually fall away ; the hair also, which is of a 

 nature analogous to the nails, ends by falling ofi*. 

 These phenomena have been observed in many 

 individuals, sometimes continuing during a great 

 number of years. A person has been mentioned 

 to me, who suffered in this way more than tw^enty- 

 five years. 



" It is a remarkable fact that when the Barra- 

 coota has been salted, it never causes any accident. 

 At St. Croix, for example, they are iii the habit 

 of eating it only the day after it has been salted. 

 Does salt act as an antidote to the poison of this 

 fish? 



" I have not myself been a witne^ of any cases 

 of poisoning by the Barracoota, and I have only 



