maintain his statement of innocence. Instead, he would 
believe that his judgement had come because of some act 
that he had forgotten or because of a crime of which he 
was unwittingly guilty. 
Abrus precatorius LL. 
Another poisonous species which was used in the west 
from Senegal to Nigeria was Abrus precatorius L. of the 
Leguminosae. This plant, which is also known as jequi- 
rity or Indian licorice, has hard, bright scarlet seeds 
which contain the tetanic glycoside, abric acid, and a 
toxalbumin, abrin. 
Although the use of this plant as an ordeal poison was 
widespread, there were certain hindrances to its contin- 
ued popularity as anything more than an accessory in- 
strument. One drawback was that it possessed the char- 
acteristic toxalbumin latent period before the commence- 
ment of effects. This was due to its partial inactivation 
by gastric juices, resulting in slow absorption. (It is ap- 
proximately 100 times less toxic when taken orally than 
when it is administered subcutaneously.) Secondly, gas- 
tric juices failed to act upon the seed coat, so care had 
to be taken that each participant chewed vigorously. But 
the greatest drawback was that immunity could be es- 
tablished by the repeated ingestion of small doses. ‘This 
last factor is undoubtedly the reason for its somewhat 
restricted use even as an accessory poison. 
During the ordeal, the accused underwent severe vom- 
iting, purging, general weakness, an inability to stand up, 
cold perspiration, colic, a depressed and then accelerated 
heartbeat, trembling, and, finally, heart failure. The in- 
terpretation of these results was similar to the general 
rule. 
Adenium Honghel DC. 
Adenium Honghel DC. of the Apocynaceae is a shrub 
[ B04 | 
