144 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 175 1. 



XII. Experiments made on a great Number of living Animals, with the Poison 

 of Lamas, and of Ticunas* By Mons. Herissant, M. D., andF.R.S. 

 Translated from the French, by Tho. Stack, M. D. p. 75- 



Mons. de la Condamine, on his return from the voyage which he made in the 

 interior parts of South America, from the coast of the South Sea to the coasts 

 of Brasil and Guiana, by going down the river of the Amazons, brought to Paris 

 a small quantity of a very dangerous poison, much in use among the Indians of 

 Lamas, -|- Ticunas, Pevas, and also among the Yameos, who all extract it by fire 

 from divers plants, especially from certain plants which the French call lianas. 



Those savages are very dexterous at making long trunks, which are the most 

 common weapon used by the Indians for hunting. To these they fit little arrows 

 made of palm-tree, on which they put a little roll of cotton, that exactly fills 

 the bore of the tube. They shoot them with their breath, and seldom or never 

 miss the mark. This simple instrument advantageously supplies the defect of 

 fire-arms among all those nations. They dip the points of these little arrows, as 

 well as those of their bows, in this poison ; which is so active that in less than a 

 minute, especially when fresh, it kills certain animals, from which the arrow has 

 drawn blood. 



Mons. de la Condamine says, in the abridged account of his voyage, that 

 " when he arrived at Cayenne, he had the curiosity to try whether this poison, 

 which he had kept above a year, still retained its activity ; and at the same time 

 whether sugar was really as efficacious a counter-poison as he had been assured. 

 Both the experiments were performed, he says, in presence of the commandant 

 of the colony, of several officers of the garrison, and of the king's physician. 

 A hen, slightly wounded with one of these little arrows, the point of which had 

 been dipped in the poison 13 months at least, before the trial, blown through a 

 trunk, lived half a quarter of an hour; another, pricked in the wing with one 

 of these arrows, newly dipped in this poison diluted with water, and immediately 



• Other experiments on the poison of Ticunas were afterwards made by the Abbe Fontana (Phil. 

 Trans, vol. 70). He confirms Dr. Herissant's account of the deleterious operation of this poison 

 (the Ticunas), when applied to a bleeding wound, or injected into a vein ; but contrary to what is 

 related by Dr. H. he did not find any bad effects to be produced by the vapour which arose from it, in 

 boiling or burning. 



+ Lamas is a Spanish village, or little town, in Upper Peru, situated in about 7° of south latitude, 

 to the west of the river of Guallaga. The native Indians of this district prepare a famous poison for 

 poisoning arrows, different from that of the Yameos, Pevas, and Ticunas, Indian nations on the 

 borders of the river of the Amazons, towards the mouth of the Napo, in 3° or i" of south latitude. 

 The poison of Ticunas is the most famous of all for its activity. They say, that that of Lamas 

 sooner loses its force, but that it is more proper for certain animals than that of Ticunas. And it is 

 the common opinion, that that of Lamas, being mixed with that of Ticunas, becomes more violent 

 and active by the mixture. — Orig. 



