VOL. XLVir.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 14J i., 



drawn out of the wound, seemed to doze a minute after; convulsions soon came 

 on, and, though we had made her swallow some sugar, she expired. A third, 

 pricked with the same arrow, dipped again into the poison, having been instantly 

 assisted by the same remedy, showed no signs of being indisposed, &c." 



Mons. H. was struck, with amazement on reading these facts; but his surprise 

 was soon followed by a desire of repeating those experiments himself, and even 

 of trying them on different sorts of animals. . Mons. de la Condamine, to whom 

 he imparted his intention, offered to satisfy his curiosity, and for that purpose 

 made him a present of a certain quantity of this poison : and the result of the 

 experiments, which he made with this same poison, forms the subject of this 

 memoir. 



,nHe begins the detail of those experiments by that of two accidents, which 

 had like to have disabled him from prosecuting the work he had undertaken; • 

 having very narrowly escaped death. The first accident happened thus: M. de 

 la Condamine had forewarned him, that when the Indians designed to use their 

 poison, which in colour, consistence, and even in smell, has a great deal of re- 

 semblance to Spanish liquorice, they dissolved it in water, and then evaporated it 

 on a slow fire to the consistence of a soft extract. M. H. made this preliminary 

 preparation in a small closet, in which a young lad was actually at work ; and he 

 did not think of making him quit it, because he did not imagine, that the poison, 

 of which he intended to make trial, could produce any bad effects, without being 

 introduced into the blood by the opening of a wound. Nor did he then recollect, 

 what M. de la Condamine had told him; which is, that while they are preparing 

 this poison in the country they oblige some criminal old woman to take care of 

 the boiling of this poison, after shutting her up alone in a separate place; so 

 that when this woman dies, it is a sign that the poison is sufficiently boiled, and 

 that it has all the qualities requisite to make it good. But he was soon made 

 sensible of his imprudence: the door of the closet, where the young lad above- 

 mentioned staid, was open; and from the next chamber he saw, that the lad, 

 who had been there about three quarters of an hour, sat still, with his arms 

 across. He began to reprimand him for his laziness, but he excused himself by 

 answering, with a trembling voice, that he was sick at heart, and felt himself 

 very faint. It is easy to imagine the uneasiness which this sight gave M. H. ; 

 but luckily it cost him no more than the fright. He made the lad come out of 

 the closet immediately, led him down into the yard, and made him swallow a 

 pint of good wine, in which he had dissolved a quartern of sugar. He reco- 

 vered his strength by degrees, and was soon able to return to his own home, very 

 merry and happy, without the least notion of the danger he had been in. Some 

 days afterwards he came to M. H. and assured him that he had not felt the least 

 indisposition since the day in question. iflT'wori 7?0i 



VOL. X. U 



