CHAPTER I 



POISONS AND STATISTICS ON POISONS 



A poison has been defined as "Any substance that, when taken into the 

 system acts in a noxious manner by means not mechanical, tending to cause 

 death or serious detriment to health.'' 



Kobert and other physicians define a poison as "A non-organized body, 

 either organic or inorganic, which under certain conditions, affects temporarily 

 or permanently one or more organs of the body, when in a state of health 

 or in a healthy condition." Such poisons may develop in the body or may come 

 from without. Some substances act injuriously in a mechanical way, that is, 

 they may set up disturbances by irritating some parts of the body. Other sub- 

 stances, while poisonous to one who is ill, may be entirely harmless to persons 

 or animals in a state of health. 



Kobert also defines poisons from a pharmacological standpoint as "All 

 pharmacological agents which, in a given case, do not act beneficially but in- 

 juriously." 



Toxicology is the science of poisons, the word being derived from the 

 ancient word "tox," meaning bow, or arrow, probably from the ancient use 

 of the arrow to kill. 



In tracing the application of the word "tox;" "arrow,"' to its later appli- 

 cation, poison, Blyth says: "Perchance the savage found that weapons soiled 

 wth the blood of former victims made wounds fatal; from this observation, 

 the next step naturally would be that of experiment, — the arrow or spear 

 would be steeped in all manner of offensive pastes, and smeared with the 

 vegetable juices of those plants which were deemed noxious; and as the ef- 

 fects were mysterious they would be ascribed to the supernatural powers, and 

 covered with a veil of superstition." 



The different tribes of Indians in South America have from early days 

 been skilful in preparing arrow poisons, the majority of which contain strych- 

 nin in some form. The following plants have, at various times, furnished 

 poisons for arrow tips, not only in South America, but also in other countries : 

 Strychnos toxifera (Strychnine), perhaps the most generally used of any; 

 Antiaris toxicaria, an arrow poison of Java, Borneo, and North Africa; various 

 Leguminosae, as Brythrophloeum in Angola, Sierra Leone, and Seychelles, a 

 different species being used in each place; Pithecolobium, Afzelia, and Derris 

 elUptica of Borneo; of the Menispermaceae, two species of Abuta are used. 



Perhaps in this connection, it would not be out of place to mention several 

 fish-poisons, many of which are also legumes. Of this order are Albidizsia, 

 Afzelia, Bauhinia, Bnterolobium, Leucaena, Milletia, Piscidia, Acacia, Abrus 

 precatorius, Clitoria, Mundelia, Derris, Lonchocarpus, and Tephrosia. In pre- 

 paring the last named, the leaves are crushed and mixed with quicklime before 

 using. Among the Menispermaceae are the Indian Berry, Fish-berry or Levant 

 Nut (Anamirta paniculata) of the East Indies which contains picrotoxin; and 



