174 



APOCYNE^. 



provided beneath with a rather thin flat foot ; on eac 

 side there is a natatory appendage ; above and pos 

 teriorly there is a kind of operculated buckler, inter 

 nally solidified by a rudiment of shell, more or les 

 calcareous and regular, covering the cavity of th 

 bronchioe ; two pair of slit auriculated tentacula, th 

 one occipital, the other labial, with very small sessil 

 eyes, placed between these two. Lamarck enume 

 rates three species. Gmelin corrected the name o 

 this genus from Laplysia, to the present one, which i 

 more correct, the other having probably originate( 

 in a typographical error, overlooked by subsequen 

 authors. 



APOCYNE^E. A natural order of dicotyle- 

 donous plants allied to the asclepiasi a family. It 

 constitutes the hundred and twenty-eight order 

 of the Jussieuan system (Loudon), and comprises 

 upwards of forty genera and a hundred and sixty 

 species. The following are the botanical character 

 of the family : Calyx, consisting of five divisions ; 

 corolla monopetalous, regular, tive-lobed, and con- 

 torted ; stamens, five, arising from the corolla ; 

 anthers, two-celled, opening longitudinally ; one or 

 two superior ovaries, and the same number of styles ; 

 fruit, a capjule, a drupe, or a berry. The twisted or 

 contorted segments of the corolla, resembling a 

 catherine-wheel, may be looked upon as a character- 

 istic mark of the family, and on this account the 

 term contorlce was applied to it by Linnaeus. 



APOCYNE.B (Cerbera thevetia). a, portion of the corolla 

 opened to show the stamens and pistil ; b, stamen, with a por- 

 tion of the corolla ; c, fruit ; d, transverse section of the same ; 

 e, seed; /, embryo. 



The plants included under the order are trees or 

 shrubs, principally natives of the tropical regions of 

 Asia, Africa, and America. A few of them are 

 hardy, and grow in the colder zones of the earth. 



They arc acrid, stimulating, and slightly astrin- 

 gent. These properties, when existing in a weak 

 degree, may be turned to useful account ; but when 

 concentrated and powerful, they form active and 

 dangerous poisons. The apocyneae also possesses 

 narcotic qualities. Most of them yield a milky juice, 

 remarkable for its bitterness and acrimony. 



This is a very important order, and furnishes many 

 substances which deserve attention, both in a toxico- 

 logical and medicinal point of view. 



Among the poisonous plants included under the 

 apocyneae, we may particularly notice the cerbera 

 tanghin or tanghinia venenifera, the poison tanghin, 

 formerly used in Madagascar as an ordeal for the 

 conviction of criminals. The kernel of the fruit of 

 this plant, although not much larger than an almond, 

 is sufficient to destroy upwards of twenty individuals. 

 In Madagascar, portions of the poisonous kernel used 

 to be administered by persons denominated skids 



(who united the offices of priests and physicians) 



to those who denied the crime of which they were 

 accused. The poison was considered an unerring 

 means of revealing guilt and clearing innocrnce. It 

 began generally to take effect within half an hour 

 after its administration. Particular notice was taken 

 of the mode in which the wretched victims fell, 

 whether on their face, back, or side, inasmuch as 

 different shades of guilt were supposed to be indi- 

 cated by these positions. Convulsions carne on, 

 accompanied with efforts to vomit. If vomiting took 

 place early, the person generally recovered ; if not, 

 insensibility ensued, and death speedily followed. 

 Those who recovered were looked upon as beings of 

 a superior order, and as the peculiar favourites of 

 heaven. It was with great difficulty that the chief- 

 tains of Madagascar were persuaded to abolish this 

 ordeal, which had been in existence among them 

 from time immemorial, and was considered of such 

 importance in the detection and punishment of guilt. 

 Under a subdivision of the apocyneoe, to which 

 the name of strychnecB has been applied, we find the 



enus strychnos, some of the species of which have 

 long been noted for their active poisonous properties. 

 The nux vomica which has long been used as a poison 

 for rats, is the seed of one of the species of this 

 afenus, viz., the strychnos niu: vomica, poison-nut, or 

 rat's-banc. From this species, as well as the strychnos 

 sancti Ignatii, colubrina, and tieute, a peculiar crys- 

 talline, alkaline substance, called strychnia, or strych- 

 nine, is procured by chemical means. It is one of 

 :he most destructive and violent poisons which lias 

 jeen hitherto discovered. A dog has been killed in 

 two minutes by injecting into its chest a sixth of a 

 jrain of strychnia dissolved in spirit ; and a wild 

 soar has been killed in the same way with a third of 

 a grain, in ten minutes. Haifa grain introduced into 

 a wound, Dr. Christison says, would kill a man in less 

 than a quarter of an hour. Strychnia has a peculiar 

 action on the animal frame : it produces trembling?, 

 stiffness, and starlings of the limbs, lock-jaw, general 

 rigidity, and difficulty of breathing. If the dose is 

 very small these symptoms pass off, or may be re- 

 moved by the use of brandy and other stimulants ; 

 >ut if the dose is large, the spasms become violent 

 and succeed each other rapidly, and death soon takes 

 )lace from suffocation, which is induced by the 

 pasms affecting the muscles of respiration. The 

 irain is not affected, and the mental faculties remain 

 inimpaired. From these symptoms it is concluded 

 hat strychnia acts on the spinal marrow alone. Not- 

 withstanding its powerful effects, this substance has 

 een used with considerable success in various dis- 

 ases, more especially palsy, dysentery, and cholera. 



From the Strychnos tieute there is procured a 

 ioisonous juice, well known under the name of upas. 

 This famous Javanese poison owes its virulence to 

 tie presence of strychnia, and is employed" to cover 

 tie ends of arrows and other instruments of warfare, 

 oncerning the upas-tree, or poison-tree of Java, 

 nany marvellous stories were formerly propagated, 

 t was stated that no plant could live within the 

 istance of a stone-cast round it that if birds hap- 

 ened to alight on its branches they instantly dropped 

 jwn dead, and that in order to procure the poison- 

 us juice without endangering life, it was necessary 

 o have the whole body covered with a strong cotton 

 loth. The recent researches of botanists have proved 

 iicse accounts to be fabulous and exaggerated. The 



