TOL. X.J PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. ^18 



On Poisonous Fish in me of the Bahama Islands. By Mr. J. L. N° 1 14, p. 3 12. 



The fish here, are many of them poisonous, causing a great pain on the joints 

 of those who eat them, which continues so for some short time, and at last, 

 with two or three days itching, the pain is rubbed off. Those of the same 

 species, size, shape, colour and taste, are some of them poison, others not in 

 the least hurtful ; and those that are, are so only to some of the company. The 

 distem.per to men never proves mortal. Dogs and cats sometimes eat their last. 

 In men that have once had that disease, upon the first eating of fish, though it 

 be those that are wholesome, the poisonous ferment in the body is revived 

 thereby, and their pain increased.* 



Observations on Extraordinary Oranges and Lemons. By Petrus Natus. 



N° 114, p. 313. 

 There was a tree found in a grove near Florence ; having an orange-stock, 

 which, it seems, was so grafted on, that it became, in its branches, leaves, 

 flowers, and fruit, three-formed, some resembling oranges, some lemons or 

 citrons, and some partaking of both forms in one. And particularly as to the 

 fruit, some of this tree were mere oranges, some of them of an oblong shape like 

 lemons, some round like common oranges, and some between both. Some 

 taste like genuine oranges, others have an orange rind but a lemon pulp. Most 

 are of a very strong scent, and their rind of a very bitter taste. The same tree 

 bears also a kind of citron-lemon, yet not so many as of the former kind. It 

 produces also a fruit, that is at once both lemon, citron,, and orange. This fruit 

 is so diversified, that some of them are half citron-lemon, half orange ; others 

 have two thirds of citron-lemon, and one of orange ; others, the contrary : and 

 of all these, some are oblong, some round, some bunchy; some smooth, some 

 rough ; some small, others large. Their pulp is so distinguished, that where the 

 orange-pulp ends, that of lemon begins, and on the contrary. Again, the 

 orange-pulp is narrower than that of lemon ; but this is tenderer than that, and 



* Several fishes, both of the East and West Indies are observed to be highly poisonous at certain 

 particular seasons.f This is probably owing to their having fed on some higliJy acrimonious marine 

 substances, j 



f Such are some species of tetrodon, and of sparus ; the bamicuta;!! the rock-fish (a species of perca) ; the cavellee (a 

 species of scomber) ; the smooth bottle-fish (a species of ostracion) ; and the most virulent of all, the yellow-billed sprat. 



X Violent vomiting is one of the first symptoms with which those who have eaten of these poisonous fishes arc 

 seized. Another effect is the separation of the epidermis or cuticle in patches or spots about the hands and feet, 

 which spots continue white in people of colour and of a pale yellow in white people, for life. The best antidotes 

 against the fish-poison are Cayenne pepper, Madeira, and other powerful cordials. In voyages to remote parts of the globe, 

 and especially to tropical and southern latitudes, the crews of ships may often prevent the mischievous consequences arising 

 from the use of the fishes of those seas and rivers, by gutting them immediately after they are taken, and washing them 

 well in clear water (either salt or freshj before they are dressed. 



II The barracuta is a species of esox or pike. 



