NUX VOMICA OLEANDEE. 193 



wilderness tlie Cedar, the Shittah tree, and the Myrtle, and 

 the Oil tree." At the present day, the Olive is extensively 

 grown in Italy and the southern parts of Spain and France. 

 The oil is rubbed upon the skin in hot countries. 



THE DOGBANE order succeeds that of the Olive ; the members 

 of this tribe are, to say the least, unwholesome. The deadly 

 poison, IN^ux vomica, is the fruit of one species, and from it 

 strychnine is obtained. Although administered in homoeopathic 

 doses their power becomes curative instead of hurtful, yet we 

 cannot repress an involuntary shudder at their names of evil 

 omen. 



The Tanghinia Nut, the terrible ordeal poison of Madagascar, 

 is another member of this group. In that dark land a person 

 accused, however falsely, of being bewitched, is compelled to 

 swallow first some portions of the skin of a chicken, and then 

 a quantity of this poisonous plant. Its quality being violently 

 emetic, the unfortunate wretch, after enduring hours of agony, 

 is attacked with violent vomiting. If all the pieces of skin be 

 found the accused is pronounced innocent. But this is rarely 

 the case ; and if it is, the patient generally dies from the poison. 



There is a very touching account recorded of the virulent 

 poison of the beautiful Oleander, another member of this 

 group. It is related that in 1809, when some French troops 

 were marauding, they cut some branches from the Oleander 

 for spits and skewers wherewith to roast the cattle they had 

 taken. The poisonous juice of the branch entered the meat, 

 and of twelve men who ate seven died, and the other five 

 became dangerously ill. 



Yet there are wholesome members of the tribe, and the 

 Cow Tree is one of them. The qualities of this tree are 

 so wonderful and beneficent, that I have copied Humboldt's 

 description of it. " On the barren flank of a rock grows a tree 

 with dry and leather-like leaves ; its large, woody roots can 

 scarcely penetrate the stony soil. Its branches appear dead 

 and dried, yet as soon as the trunk is pierced there flows 



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