Proceedings of Societies. 355 



nomiced innocent. More generally the poison is retained ; and then the 

 ■evidence of guilt is at the same time condemnation and punishment ; for 

 death speedily ensues. 



In the district of Old Calabar, the poison used for the trial by ordeal is 

 a bean, called Esere, which seems to possess extraordinary energy and 

 very peculiar properties. It has been lately made known to the mission- 

 aries sent by the United Presbyterian Church in Scotland to the native 

 tribes of Calabar ; and to the Rev. Mr Waddell, one of these gentlemen, 

 the author was chiefly indebted for the materials for his experiments, as 

 well as for information as to its effects on man. According to what the 

 missionaries often saw, this poison is one of great energy, as it sometimes 

 proves fatal in half an hour, and a single bean has proved sufficient to 

 occasion death. None recover who do not vomit it. The greater number 

 perish. On one occasion forty individuals were subjected to trial, when 

 a chief died in suspicious circumstances, and only two recovered. 



The author found the bean to present generally the characters of a Doli- 

 chos. It has been grown at his request both by Professor Syme and at 

 the Botanic Garden by Mr M'Nab ; and it proves to be a perennial legu- 

 minous creeper, resembling a Dolichos, but it has not yet flowered. The 

 seed weighs about forty or fifty grains. It is neither bitter, nor aromatic, 

 nor hot, and differs little in taste from a haricot bean. Alcohol removes 

 its active constituent, in the form of an extractiform matter, amounting 

 to 2*7 per cent, of the seed. The author could not obtain an alkaloid from 

 it by any of the simpler processes for detecting vegetable alkaloids . 



By experiments on animals, and from observation of its effects on him- 

 self, the ordeal bean has a double action on the animal body : it paralyses 

 the heart's action, and it suspends the power of the will over the 

 muscles, causing paralysis. It is a potent poison, for twelve grains caused 

 severe symptoms in his own person, although the poison was promptly 

 evacuated by vomiting, excited by hot water. The alcoholic extract has 

 the same effect and action with the seed itself. 



2. Experiments on the Blood, showing the effect of a few Therapeutic 

 Agents on that Fluid in a state of Health and of Disease. By James 

 Stark, M.D., F.R.C.P. 



3. Extracts from a Letter from E. Blachwell, Esq., Chamouni, contain- 

 ing Observations on the Movement of Glaciers in Winter. Communi- 

 cated by Professor Forbes. 



The accessibility of the glaciers, even up to a considerable height, is at 

 this season a question of mere physical force. I have made within the last 

 few days two excursions into the region of perpetual snow. The first of 

 these was on the 6th of January, and was to the summit of the glacier of 

 Blatiere, several hundred feet above the point where I had noted the line 

 of the neve in September and October ; the second was on the 13th, when 

 I succeeded in reaching the junction of the glaciers of Bossons and Tacco- 

 naz, near the Grands Moulets. This junction is exactly at the commence- 

 ment of the neve, as I remarked between the months of August and October, 

 on six different occasions, when I passed there on my way to and from Mont 

 Blanc, the Dome du Gouter, &c. In both these expeditions I was struck 

 by the excessive power of the sun ; the greater apparent warmth, even in 

 the shade, as compared to the valley of Chamouni ; and the sudden chill 

 which followed sunset. There was also much less snow at these Heights 

 than in the valley, and I have no hesitation in saying that in winter very 

 little snow falls upon the higher summits. The snow-falls in the valley 



