VOL. LXX.J PHILOSOPHICAL TBANSACTIONS. ^43 



de la Condamine was certainly deceived when he wrote that this poison is prepared 

 by women condemned to die; and that it is known to be come to its perfection 

 when the vapours, which it emits in boiling, kill the person who is obliged to be 

 present. 



This poison dissolves easily and very well in water, even when it is cold, and 

 so it does also in the mineral and vegetable acids. But it dissolves in oil of vitriol 

 much more slowly than in the other acids, and becomes as black as ink by the 

 operation, which it does not do with any of the other acids. It does not effer- 

 vesce with either acids or alkalis; neither does it alter milk, nor tinge it, except 

 with its natural colour; nor does it tinge the vegetable juices, either red or green. 

 When examined with the microscope, there is no appearance of regularity or of 

 crystallization; but it is for the most part made up of very small irregular roundish 

 bodies, like vegetable juices. It dries without making any noise, in which it 

 differs from the poison of the viper, and it has an extremely bitter taste when 

 put on the tongue. From all which I deduce, that it is neither an acid nor an 

 alkali, nor composed of salts that are visible even with the microscope. 



It was not so much through curiosity as on account of the order which I had 

 prescribed to myself in making my experiments, that I was led to examine if 

 this poison is fatal to life, when applied immediately to the eyes, or if it excites 

 any disease or irritation of the parts. I had before found, that the poison of the 

 viper was as innocent when put on the eyes, as it is in the mouth and in the sto- 

 mach ; whence I was curious to see the analogy between these 2 poisons, both 

 so active, and yet of such different origins. 



I began therefore, by putting a small quantity of it, dissolved in water, on the 

 eye of a Guinea-pig. The animal showed no signs of suffering, neither at the 

 time nor afterwards, nor was the eye in the least inflamed. Two hours after, I 

 repeated the experiment on both the eyes of the same animal, and with a greater 

 quantity of the poison; but the pig did not feel the least inconvenience, and the 

 eyes remained in the natural state. I tried the experiments on the eyes of 1 

 other Guinea-pigs with the same success; which constantly attended all the ex- 

 periments I afterwards made on the eyes of many other animals, and especially 

 on those of rabbits. I could never observe that it made any alteration in their 

 eyes, any more than if I had bathed them with pure water: whence I think it 

 may be concluded, that the American poison is not in the least hurtful when ap- 

 plied to the eyes, and that it exerts no extraordinary action on them. 



But will it be innocent when taken in by the mouth and swallowed.' Mr. de 

 la Condamine, and all others who have treated of this poison, believe it to be 

 quite innocent when received by the mouth; and this is the common opinion of 

 all the Americans. The reason they give for it is, that they can eat with impu- 

 nity the animals killed with this poison, or rather with the poisoned arrows. 



4 N 2 



