A RIVAL OF THE FABLED UPAS TREE 97 



abundance of it in the hairs on its surface, that explorers 

 have been injured by merely approaching it, the detached 

 hairs probably floating in the air and getting into the 

 eyes, nose, and throat of any one coming near it The 

 poison of the poisonous stings of both plants and of 

 animals has been to some extent examined of late years. 

 It is a curious fact that there are proportionately few 

 plants which sting as compared with the number and 

 variety of animals which do so. On the other hand, 

 there are an enormous number of plants which are 

 poisonous to man when eaten by him, but there are 

 very few animals which are so. 



It will be of interest to my readers to know that 

 I received, in consequence of the publication of the fore- 

 going account of the " Poison-vine " or " Poison-ivy," 

 more than fifty letters and boxes containing leaves. At 

 Kew Gardens nearly a hundred applications were made 

 with a request for the identification of leaves. The pro- 

 portion of cases in which leaves of true poison-ivy 

 (Rhus toxicodendron) were sent to me seems to be the 

 same as that which they observed at Kew only two 

 samples of the leaves sent to me were those of the true 

 poison-ivy. Hence we may conclude that the plant has 

 not been very largely introduced in this country, and 

 probably there are not many hundred cases existing in 

 England of the painful malady which it can, in certain 

 people, produce. I have, however, received information 

 of several instances of this poisoning from different parts 

 of the country, which are either now under treatment 

 or have been cured, and in some cases the poison-ivy 

 has been discovered as the cause, owing to the descrip- 

 tion which I published. It is certainly true that the 

 illness caused by this plant only attacks a small pro- 

 portion of those who handle it, and it is possible that 

 the plant is more virulent at some seasons and in some 

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