42 JOURNAL, BOMB A T NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol XIV, 



somewhere near Midnapore, a whole familj^ consisting of father, mother 

 and children ate the cooked young shoots of Datura as ^ greens'' hy 

 mistake, supposing them to be harmless. The parents died, but the 

 children recovered.* The stomachs of the parents were sent to 

 Calcutta for chemical examination. The analysis was scientitically 

 made. The active principle which caused death was physiologically 

 tested on a puppy. The essence obtained from the stomach- contents 

 of the deceased parents was injected into the stomach of the puppy. 

 Vomiting set in immediately afterwards ; very soon after that the 

 puppy performed a few antics and fell over on his side into a deep 

 sleep from which tickling failed to rouse him. He, however, recovered 

 after six hours, but the pupils were exceedingly dilated and they 

 continued more or less so the whole of the next day. Lucky puppy ! 

 He did not die !! 



Chevers describes another case which is well-worth reproducing. In 

 this case it is a kitten that is experimented on. In the Midnapore 

 District, in September 1866, a sub-inspector of police died while he was 

 in custody. It was reported he had taken opium. His stomach was 

 sent to Calcutta for chemical examination. No opium-trace was found, 

 but particles were found in the stomach which had the appearance of 

 Datura seeds. A decoction of these particles and the whole stomach 

 was made, and half of it was given to a kitten at noon on 27th 

 September. " The lir.tle cat soon began to breathe with difficulty, and 

 to froth at the mouth; in ten minutes her pupils were dilated, and 

 they continued to remain so, only to a still greaier extent, the rest of 

 the day, never for a moment being contracted, or even less dilated 

 even when exposed to a strong sun-light. After 20 minutes the 

 kitten was placed in the middle of the room, and encouraged to walk 

 but she staggered and fell on attempting to do so. In half-an-hour 

 from the time of administration, she was quite unconscious ; up to this 

 period she had felt pain when pinched with forceps, but now a severe 



* Some years ago I had a similar casp of poisioning of a whole family under treatment at 

 the Thana Civil Hospital. It was accidental, end not crinriial. A father, mother with a 

 baby in arm, and two othei children wfre brought to hospital, reeling and staggering, try- 

 ing to catch imaginary objects in air. The infant nursed by the mother did motions of 

 hands as if to brush off something from its face. This shows that before the mother's milk 

 was arrested the infant was poisoned. They all recovered. I have a photo-group of them, 

 but it is not handy just now. ( K. E. K. ) 



