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POISONS 



We leave to future chapters the consideration of poisons used in 

 war, fishing, hunting, and trade, as well as poisonous food and the 

 effects of venomous animals. 



1. CRIMINAL POISONING. 



Criminal poisoning has been in existence from the earliest and 

 most primitive ages, and as it requires a highly and specially trained 

 chemist with a well-equipped and up-to-date laboratory to detect 

 many of the tropical vegetal poisons, the reader will not be surprised 

 to note that criminal poisoning is more frequently met with in the 

 tropics than in the Temperate Zone. 



It seems to us that it is more commonly met with in the East than 

 in Africa, and we are inclined to think that the reason for this_ is 

 that in Africa only the fetish-man knows how to present virulent 

 poisons in acceptable forms to his victims, whereas persons with an 

 elementary knowledge of poisons are common in the East. 



The poisons of different tropical countries vary according to 

 custom and tradition, and also according to the plants which 

 happen to grow in the vicinit}^ It is said that arsenic in the East 

 is the cause of as many criminal poisonings as all the organic poisons 

 put together. This may be so, but we are not certain that anyone 

 is qualified to make this statement, as it came as a great surprise to 

 us to find that in Ceylon a number of the poisonings at one time 

 attributable to arsenic were found by advanced chemical research 

 under an exceedingly able chemist to be due to Cerbera odollam. 



We are therefore of the opinion that every tropical country 

 requires a well-equipped toxicological laboratory, with well-trained 

 research chemists, whose business, inter alia, should be to make 

 themselves acquainted with the poisons of the land in which they 

 are residing, with the view to discovering tests whereby these poisons 

 may be detected and so justice done in criminal cases. This is 

 important, for the native soon learns that methods of bringing the 

 criminal to justice exist, and therefore becomes less inclined to use 

 this method for the removal of his enemy. 



The poisons used criminally against man may be divided into 

 (a) Inorganic Poisons, (5) Organic Poisons. 



Inorganic Poisons. 



The most common poison is arsenic in some form, and the next is 

 perchloride of mercury, followed closely by the mineral acids. Salts 

 of copper have been used for homicidal purposes, but generally 

 poisoning from this source is accidental, and due to the use of copper 

 cooking utensils, while the preparations of antimony are seldom used. 



Organic Poisons. 



These may be derived from animal or vegetal sources, but the 

 latter are far more en evidence, and are largely derived from plants 



