178 



POISONS 



because St. Hilaire cancelled his original name. It is prepared 

 by slightly scorching the leaves, which are then broken down and 

 subjected to a strong pressure. A handful of this pressed foliage 

 is infused in a small spouted vessel called a ' mate.' It is then 

 sucked hot through the spout or bombilla, which is perforated on 

 its lower side with small holes, which, while allowing the escape 

 of the liquid, prevent the pieces of leaf following. It is drunk 

 freshly infused, and is said to be an aperient and diuretic, and to 

 become a habit with those who drink it. 



Mate is much used in Paraguay, Uruguay, the Argentine, and 

 Southern Brazil, but in the last-named Ilex gongonha Martins, and 

 Ilex thecBzans Martins are employed. 



Coffee. — ^The deleterious effects of excessive tea-drinking are 

 well known and need not be repeated, but it may perhaps be as 

 well to invite attention to the excessive amount of Turkish coffee 

 which is drunk in the Middle East. 



Other Poisons.— In Malacca the leaves of Mitragyna speciosa 

 Korth (Rubiacese) are said to be used in place of opium. From 

 the leaves of Bassia latifolia Roxburgh and B. longifolia Linnaeus 

 (Sapotaceae) intoxicating drinks are made. Hyoscyamus muticus is 

 used as an intoxicant by the Baluches, and makes them dance like 

 lunatics. 



The juice of the fruit of Anacardium occidentale (Anacardiaceae) 

 is used after distillation in Goa as a drink. 



IV. POISONS USED IN TRIAL BY ORDEAL.^ 



POISONS D'EPREUVE (FRENCH). 



Curious customs exist in savage lands of trial by ordeal, in 

 which the patient is given a drug and then ordered to perform 

 some act. Waddell records the history of an old Hindu woman 

 who was supposed to be a witch. She was tried by ordeal, being 

 given a poisonous drug (datura) in treacle, as it is a native belief 

 that a witch can withstand poison. The result of the ordeal was 

 that the poor woman died. 



In Africa the greater part of these poisons belong to the 

 Loganiaceae, Apocynaceae, Leguminosae, and Solanaceae, but the 

 plant employed varies in the different regions, and many are still 

 undetermined — e.g., M'Faug may be a strophanthus, while 

 M'Boundou is undetermined. 



Rho gives an account of trial in West Africa by ' imbundi,' the 

 sliced root bark of Strychnos icaja (Baillon), which is said to con- 

 tain strychnine. The accused, after drinking a concoction of the 

 root, is made to jump over a stick, and is pronounced guilty unless 

 he is able to do this, or to pass urine on to a banana-leaf, both 

 of which feats are usually impossible. 



Christison mentions the Calabar bean of West Africa, Physostigma 

 venenosum Balfour (Leguminosae), as being used in trial by ordeal7 



