PEOF. ATTFIELD — POISON'S NOT ALWAYS POISOXS. 153 



the sufferers were seized within twenty minutes, to two or three hours, after break- 

 fast, and that as the only article of diet common to all was milk, and as on other 

 occasions of similar seizure the cause was clearly traced to that article, it is 

 reasonable to infer that in the present instance the milk used for breakfast con- 

 tained the poisonous ingredient. This conclusion becomes almost a certainty 

 when it is known that several persons, living in the same hotels, who had not 

 taken milk that day, escaped, while, without one exception, those who had taken 

 it were seized with the alarming illness described. The family of "Sir. Emman- 

 uele Zammit, and, we believe, other families in Valetta, were attacked in like 

 manner the same morning, after partaking of milk for breakfast ; even a cat, 

 which had taken some, showed the same symptoms of having been poisoned. 

 Among the sufferers at the Imperial were General Bell, and Mr. Spcuce, the 

 eminent sculptor, of Rome. Towards the end of last year a number of exactly 

 similar cases happened at Sliema, where the whole family of a field officer, with 

 one exception, was poisoned, evidently by goats' milk ; and about the same time 

 other cases occurred among the officers aud men of Her Majesty's ships Marl- 

 borough, Algiers, and Firebrand, but witli no fatal consequences. We have also 

 heard of other cases occurring from time to time. Poisoning by milk, therefore, 

 appears to be not an uncommon occurrence in Malta ; but we are not aware if 

 experiments were ever made- by scientific men to ascertain beyond doubt the real 

 cause of the milk assuming this dangerous character. The natives attribute it to 

 the goats browsing on a particular plant belonging to the natural family Jtii- 

 pliorbiacefp, or spm-ge-worts, which they call tenliuto, and which, they say, 

 possesses the property of rendering the milk poisonous to human beings, without 

 inflicting any serious injury on the animal itself. On the other hand, we have 

 heard this popular belief ridiculed by some of the more learned Maltese physi- 

 cians, although we must confess we never could perceive upon what grounds. 

 We are glad to learn that His Excellency the Governor has ordered a searching 

 inquiry into the matter, and we hope the result will be the adoption of means, if 

 possible, to prevent such serious endangering of life by a common article of daily 

 food for the futui-e." — ' Malta Times,' Jan. 22, 186 — . 



I wrote to my friend, and to the Editor of the 'Malta Times,' 

 and they promised to let me know the result of the investigation. 

 I believe the inquiries of the Committee landed them on no par- 

 ticular ground worth occupying. 



Sir J. Emerson Tennent, in his 'Sketches of the Natural History 

 of Ceylon,' referring to the mongoos and their not being liable to 

 be hurt by poisonous serpents, says : " Such exceptional provisions 

 are not without precedent in the animal economy ; the hornbill 

 feeds with impunity on the deadly fruit of the strychnos ; the 

 milky juice of some species of euphorbia, which is harmless to 

 oxen, is invai-iably fatal to the zebra ; and the tsetse fly, the pest 

 of South Africa, whose bite is mortal to the ox, the dog, and the 

 horse, is harmless to man and the untamed creatures of the forest." 

 And again (quoting from 'Asiatic Researches,' p. 184), he says: 

 " The hornbill abounds in Cuttack, and bears there the name of 

 KuchilaJcai, or kuchilla-eater, from its partiality for the fruit of the 

 Strychnos Nux-vomica. The natives regard its flesh as a sovereign 

 specific for rheumatic affections." 



Some interesting notes on "Poisonous Fish" will also be found 

 in the ' Pharmaceutical Journal ' for January, 1853. 



I must lastly just refer to the practice — for it is a well-known 

 practice in one part of the Austrian dominions — in Styria, of eating 

 arsenic. This is another mineral poison, and for many years toxi- 

 cologists seemed to be of opinion that the animal economy could 



