216 



ucts being cordue, nails, tack*, rivet*, shoes. 

 shanks, cotton. (Turk, and seamless |x>cke;- There 

 are also . line-rolling-mills and an iron-foundry. The 

 village i modern in appearance, in lighted with gas, 

 and has w.ii.-r works, tl >f which, about 



$100,(HNi, constitute:. ii> public debt. The property i> 

 valucd at jft.000,000 mid tin- yearly expenses are about 

 $60,000. Tin- town is much resorted to by summer 

 vi-itors. there being 7 hotels, and 7 trains daily to and 

 from Boston, besides daily trips by Hteamboat in the 

 summer. 



PLYMOUTH, a borough of Pennsylvania, in Lu- 

 *crne oo., on the east bank of the Bonoehaana Itivcr. 

 i> on the Delaware, Lackawamm. and Western Hail 

 road. S miles from Wilktvbarre. It is a coal-mining 

 (own with IX)65 population in IKSO. It was in ISs.'i 

 the scene of a aenous epidemic of typhoid fever, 

 which wan eventually traced to the contamination of 

 the water-supply by the excreta of a single fauiily some 

 months previous 



POBX v AlrOY, FELIPE, a Cuban naturalist, was 

 born at Havana, May lit'., 17W. Tliou.irli his fattier 

 was a Frenchman, he was educated at Havana, and in 

 ..vaine a lawyer there. His inclination tor 

 natural history was so strong that in I >:_'('. he went to 

 Paris with drawings and specimen.- of Cuban lishes. 

 which were submitted to Cuvier and Valenciennes. 

 These eminent naturalists used his rneareba in their 

 Ilistnlre Naturdle des Rriumu, giving him due credit. 

 In 1833 Poey returned to Cuba and in 1842 he was ap- 

 pointed professor of oqinparative analoniv and zoology 

 in the Royal University of Havana. Though ham- 

 pered by want of moans, Prof. Poey diligently prose- 

 cuted his researches in natural history. He made 

 valuable contributions to the U. 8. National Museum. 

 to the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Cambridge, 

 Mass., and to the Museum at Madrid. His chief con- 

 tributions to science are JUtmorim m>bri- l<i Illstnrin 

 Natural , If la Jtla dr Cub,, (L'vols.. 1865 f.0) ; fiynop- 

 it Pitciinn ('uln-iifiinn (isi'.s). which was revised 

 under the title Knunif ratio 1'itciitm ('nli<-nfluin (1875), 

 but he has spent years in preparing a valuable /.//<,/< ( 

 ;iin Ciilmnn. still in manuscript. 



POINDEXTER, C,K"K<iK (177'.' is:,:;), politician. 

 was born in Louisa county, Va. in 177'.'. lie 

 began to practice law in his native State, but in 

 1802 removed to Mississippi Territory, where \\>- wa- 

 made attorney-general by (lov. Claiborne. In 1*07 

 he was sent to Congress as Territorial delegate, and in 

 1813 he was appointed I". S. District Judge lor Mis- 

 sissippi. When that State was admitted to the Union, 

 in 1817, he was elected to Congress, and in 1819 he was 

 elected governor. In 1831 he was sent to the U. S. 

 Senate, and though he had formerly been a defender 

 of Gen. Jackson, he now turned against him. Poin- 

 dezter went to Kentucky in ls:!f>. but afterwards re- 

 turned to Mississippi, where he died at .lack.son. Sept. 

 5, 1853. 



I'DINSETT, JOEL ROBERTO (1779-1851), states- 

 man, was born at Charleston. South Carolina, 

 March '2, 1779. He was of Huguenot descent, was 

 tducatcd by Pres. Dwight at Greenfield, Conn., 

 and afterwards studied medicine at the University of 

 Edinburgh and military science at Woolwich. He 

 spent some years in travel through Europe, visited 

 the Calmuck Tartars and entered Persia. In 1809, 

 being sent by Pres. Madison to examine the condi- 

 tion of the people of South America then in insurrec- 

 tion against the Spanish authorities, he established 

 friendly relations with Buenos Ayrcs and then crossed 

 the continent to Chili. While he was there the Span- 

 ish authorities seized several American whaleshins at 

 Taleahuana, but Poinsett, with the aid of some Clnl 

 liberate-) tin- vessels. The British preventing 

 i. he again crossed the Andes. After 

 hi- r< tin n h"in> he was elected to the Legislature and 

 in 1.121 to i He also vi.-iti.d Mexico in 1822 



to re| I'lis-hed 



POISONS 



!> liurhidc. In 1S2"> he was sent a* minister to that 

 country and in spite of troubles due to revolutionary 

 movement- negotiated treaties with it* government 

 lie returned to Charleston in 1X29 and became a leader 

 of the 1'nion party in the struggle against nullification. 

 He was in constant correspondence with Pres. Jack- 

 son during this trying period and heartily approved 

 the action of the national administration. Atler the 

 nullification movement had tailed I'oinsctt married 

 and became a rice-planter. I 'res. Van Burcn called 

 him from his retirement, in 1837, to be secretary of 

 war. While holding this office he organized and 

 equipped the Wilke.s Exploring Expedition. He 

 planned and founded the first National Museum at 

 \Yashington. He reorganized the artillery service and 

 strongly urged other improvements in armv methods 

 Yet he stoutly resisted the movement* leading to the 



n war, which, however, in its course displayed 

 effectively the value of his services to the military 

 strength of the country. At the close of his term he 

 retired again to his plantation at Statesburg, S. C. , 



; died I'ee. 12, ls.51. See Dr. C. J. Stille's 



'Life anil Services of J. H. Poinsett' 1 in 

 M'irj<i:iiir i if Ilintnrif iliul Blin/iiii'ln/ (1888). 



POISONS. The subject of toxicology has beet, 



very fully treated in the C.U 



tSlSl i 287 P -* DIA BKITANMCA, and this article 

 Am. Rep.). ' w ''\ be devoted to a brief statement of 

 antidotes. An antidote is a substance 

 which is used for the purpose of overcoming the dele- 

 terious effects of some poison upon the animal syMem 

 There arc two kinds of antidotes physiological and 

 chemical. Physiological antidotes are uncertain in 

 their action and require for their use a thorough knowl- 

 edge of physiology and pathology. We shall not. 

 therefore, discuss them in the present article. 



Chemical antidotes act usually by forming with the 

 poison a new compound which is inert so far as the 

 human syMem is concerned. With but one exception 

 they are ineajiable of acting when the poison has Decn 

 absorbed. 'Ine exception is a very important one in 

 that it is the antidote of a very common poison, car- 

 bolic acid. This antidote is a soluble sulphate, es- 

 pecially the sulphate of magnesium or Epsom salt, or 

 the sulphate of sodium or Glauber's salt It seems 

 to have the power of forming a harmless sulpho-car- 

 bolatc in the blood as well as in the alimentary canal. 



The antidotes are best studied for practical purposes 

 , under general heads. 



All in fiit-fiil n ml vegetable acidt, with but one single 

 exception, are neutralized and rendered innocuous T>y 

 ordinary alkalies or alkaline earths. The exception 

 is oxalic acid, whose salts of potassa and soda are as 

 poi.-omms as is the acid itself. The antidote is lime. 

 the oxalate of lime formed being completely insoluble 

 and inert 



In applying an antidote to an acid time is of the ut- 

 niM-i impoit.inee, and as so%p is usually at hand, and 

 is very effective, it is the most frequently employed of 

 all the alkaline substance.-. 



Tin- alkalies arc also more or less antidotal to most 

 of the HiiiHi-iil xnltt, the principal exceptions being, 1. 

 ('ni-1-ii.-ii-i sublimate. The yellow oxide of mercury, 

 which is formed when an alkali is added to corrosjve 

 sublimate, although less poisonous than the corrosive 

 sublimate, Is very deleterious in its action upon the 

 system. 2. Tartar Emetic. The oxide of antimony 

 acts less promptly but scarcely less certainly than tartar 

 emetic itself, and consequently we are not able to em 

 ploy it in tartar emetic poisoning. Tannic acid, though 

 not a perfect antidote, is still the best we have for the 

 salts of antimony. 3. Arsenic. The antidote to ar- 

 senic and its soluble preparations is some form of the 

 hydrated sesqui-oxide of iron. It is necessary that 

 this antidote be freshly prepared, be given in a moist 

 state and in great excess. If it has long been pre 

 pared it is nearly useless. It ?)iu!d. therefore, be 

 hen n. uited by precipitating the tincture of the 



