COMMUNICATIONS AND EXTRACTS. 57 



prussic acid — a single drop being sufficient to kill a dog. 

 Its vapor is so irritating, that it is difficult to breathe in 

 a room in which a single drop has been evaporated. The 

 reader may recollect the great sensation produced in 

 1851, by the trial of the Comte de Bocarm^, at Mons, 

 and his subsequent execution, for poisoning his brother- 

 in law with nicotin. A hundred pounds of the dry to- 

 bacco-leaf yield about seven pounds of nicotin. In 

 smoking a hundred grains of tobacco, therefore, say a 

 quarter of an ounce, there may be drawn into the mouth 

 two grains or more of one of the most subtle of all known 

 poisons'' " The empyreumatic oil is acrid and disagree- 

 able to the taste, narcotic, and poisonous. One drop ap- 

 plied to the tongua|of a cat brought on convulsions, and 

 in two minutes occasioned death. The Hottentots are 

 said to kill snakes by putting a drop of it on their 

 tongues. Under its influence, the reptiles die as in- 

 stantaneously as if killed by an electric shock. It ap- 

 pears to act nearly in the same way as prussic acid." 



"The crude oil is supposed to be the juice of the 

 cursed hebenon," described by Shakspeare as a distil* 

 ment. 



"Sleeping within mine orchard, 

 My custom ^ways of the afternoon, 

 Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole, 

 With juice of cursed hebanon in a vial, 

 And in the porches of mine ear did pour 

 The leperous distillment: whose effect 

 Holds such an enmity with blood of man, 

 That, swift as quicksilver, it courses through 

 The natural gates and alleys o^ the body; 

 And with a sudden vigour it doth posset 

 And curd, like eager droppings into milk. 



