172 



y. IT URAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



those of the Euphorbiacece with similar properties. Their latex 1 is 

 rich, either in caoutchouc, which is extracted for industrial purposes, 

 or in a deleterious principle which renders these plants extremely 

 dangerous. The most celebrated of the latter class is unquestionably 

 Antlaris toxicaria^ (fig. 119-121), a terrible poison with which the 

 natives of Java formerly rubbed their weapons of war and chase, 

 and the inoculation of which was said to be mortal. Moreover, contact 

 with or even the neighbourhood of this tree was, according to report, 

 fatal to man. Fugitive slaves perished under its branches in the 

 forests where they took refuge, and the ground was strewed with 

 corpses in the valleys of death where this terrible tree grew, under 

 which the birds could not fly without perishing. Eumphius, then 

 Leschenault, have made us better acquainted with what is true in 

 all these traditions. The latter received the milky juice which flows 

 from incisions in this tree upon different parts of the body without 

 inconvenience ; but he also has seen accidents produced by contact 

 of the latex with the skin or the eyes. Many of the Javans who 

 cut the tree experience pains, nausea, vomiting, and vertigo. 3 The 

 action of this juice is more energetic when inoculated than when 

 taken internally, and, in the latter case, it does not act with the 

 same intensity on man as on other animals. We are assured that 

 animals killed by this poison may be eaten without inconvenience. 



1 The reservoirs of this juice have heen 

 studied occasionally by authors who have 

 examined this family anatomically, the principal 

 of whom are : — Miq. Observ. sur le Canal. 

 Médull. et les Diaphr. du Tronc de Cecropia Bull. 

 6c. Phys. Néerland. (1838), 29-31, 168-172, Mart. 

 FI. Bras. Urtic. 140).— C. H. Schultz, D. Cyklose 

 (Nov. Act. Nat. Cur. (1841), xviii. Suppl. ii. t. 

 13. — Karst. Nov. Act. (1854), xxiv. 79. — Moras; 

 Gatoich. Voy. Bon. Bot. AU. t. 132, f. 14, 

 15. M. Davip attributes to the reservoirs of the 

 latex of the M'ireœ the same origin and the same 

 constitution as to those of the Eup/iorbiacea (see 

 vol. v. 159, note 5). — The same applies to 

 Ficus Carica : Meten, Phytot. (1830), t. 10. 

 f. 5, 6 ;— F . elastica, Link. Ic. Anat. Bot. (1837), 

 fasc. ii. xiv. 1-; — Duchtre, E/éui. fig 25, 26. 

 Tri'.cul has marked as an exception (Compl. 

 Rend. Ixvi. 575) Conocephalus naucleiflorus, 

 which does " not enclose vessels with a milky 

 juice, but cellules of gum in the youngest part 

 of the branches and lacunes or canals full ot 

 gum in the older parts." 



2 Leschen. Ann. Mus. xvi. 476, t. 22. — Bl. 

 Rnmphia, ii. 56, t. 22, 23.— LiNnL. Fl. Med. 301. 

 — H. B.\. Diet. Eneycl. Se. Mêd. v. 306.— 

 Arbor toxicaria Rumph. Herb. Amboin. ii. 263, 

 t. 87 (Antiar, Antsjar, Upas-Antiar, Po/ion- 

 Upas, Ipo, Hypo). 



s On the effect of Antiar, see Rai, Hist. PI. 

 App. iii. 87. — C. -ZEjmel (prœsid. Thunb.), 

 Arbor toxicaria Maeassariensis. Upsal (1788). 

 — Fuesch. Mêl. Litt. étr. i. 63. — R.-Del. Sur. 

 les Eff. d'un Poison de Java. Taris (1809). — 

 Magend. Exam, de l'Action, de qq. Venét. Paris 

 (1SÛ9).— Orhla, Toxicolog. ii. 1.— Mart. Veb. 

 den Macassar Giftbnuin. Erlang. (1792). — Mér. 

 et Del. Diet. Mot. Med. i. 333.— Gum. Brog. 

 Simpl. éd. 6. ii. 327. Antiar has been 

 analysed by Pelletier and Caventou (Ann. 

 Chim. et Phys. xxvi. 44). They found, among 

 others, a bitter substance including the veno- 

 mous principle which contains perhaps, accord- 

 ing to them, an alcaloid. M. Mulder hasnamed 

 it antiarine (C :8 H=°0 ,n ). 



