POISONS. 627 



Martius Luffa purgans), a tribe closely allied to the colocynth 

 and mornordicas, growing in South America, is a powerful 

 purgative, and is used in the province of Pernambuco, where it is 

 called Cabacinha. The fruit is about the size of a small pear 

 and resembles the wild cucumber. An infusion of a fourth part 

 of one of these fruits is administered chiefly in the form of an 

 injection. 



Another species (Luffa drastica of Martius) is also employed 

 for the same purpose. 



The Luffa purgans grows spontaneously in the suburbs of 

 Recieffe, the capital of the province of Pernambuco, and flowers 

 in November and December. The fruit is a drastic purgative, 

 and an infusion of it is used either internally or in the form 

 of clyster. The tincture is prepared by macerating, for twenty- 

 eight hours or more, four of the fruit deprived of the seeds in a 

 bottle of spirit 21 degrees. The dose is three or four ounces 

 daily, which occasions much sickness. 



POISOKS. The vegetable kingdom (observes Mr. Simple), to 

 which man is largely indebted for the materials of food, clothing, and 

 shelter, produces also some of the most deadly poisons with which 

 science, experience, or accident, has made him acquainted. In 

 examining the poisonous productions of the vegetable kingdom, 

 we find that their properties are generally due to the presence 

 of some acid or alkali contained in the plant from which they 

 are derived. Oil of bitter almonds and cherry laurel water are 

 poisonous in consequence of containing prussic acid. Opium 

 owes its activity to the alkaloid morphia. The Upas-tiente 

 derives its energetic powers from the alkaloid strychnia ; conia is 

 the active principle of hemlock ; veratria of hellebore ; aconita of 

 monk's hood ; and although there are several poisonous plants in 

 which the active principle has not yet been detected, there can be 

 little doubt that such a principle exists, although it has hitherto 

 eluded the researches of the chemist. ("Pharmaceutical J ournal," 

 vol. 2, p. 17.) 



The bark taken from the roots of the Jamaica dogwood (Piscidia 

 erytJirind), which is extensively distributed throughout the Archi- 

 pelago of the Antilles, is used for stupefying fish. The pounded 

 root is mixed with slaked lime and the low wines or lees of the 

 distillery, and the mixture is put into small baskets or sacks, and 

 so suffered to wash out gradually, coloring the water to a reddish 

 hue. The fish rise to the surface in a few minutes, when they 

 float as if dead. 



The expressed juice of the root of Maranta Arundinacea is 

 stated to be a valuable antidote to some vegetable poisons, and also 

 serviceable in cases of bites or stings of venomous insects or 

 reptiles. One of the most popular remedies for the bites of snakes 

 is a decoction of the leaves of the G-uaco, or snake plant, of South 

 America, a species of willow which flourishes along the banks of 



2 s 2 



