Iviii 



INTRODUCTION. 



common kinds enter into the composition of some 

 of the quack fever medicines ; but they are too 



violent in their action 

 to be used with safety. 

 The Irish Spurge is 

 extensively used by the 

 peasants of Kerry for 

 poisoning, or rather 

 stupifying, fish. So 

 powerful are its ef- 

 fects^ that a small creel 

 or basket filled mth 

 the bruised plaint suf- 

 fices to poison the fish 

 for several miles down 

 a river. Euphorbia 

 Ldthyris is sometimes, 

 though erroneously, 

 called in England the 

 caper-plant. Its un- 

 ripe seeds are pickled, 

 and form a dangerous 

 substitute for genuine 

 capers, which are the 

 unexpanded fiower- 

 buds of Capparis spi^ 

 nosa^ a shrub indige- 

 nous to the most sou- 

 thern countries of 

 Europe. Among the 

 foreign Spurges, some 

 species furnish both 

 the African and Ameri- 

 spRiG OF BOX. ^^^^ savages with a 



deadly poison for their arrows. Another, called 



