8i8 



A RDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



December 17, 1898. 



very complete and interesting series of what is known as Japanese 

 lacquer ware, which are beautiful and artistic designs in caskets, boxes, 

 trays, bowls, sword cases, &c, the foundations of which are of wood, 

 thickly coated with numerous layers of fluid lacquer which is drawn from 

 the trunks of the species of Rhus mentioned above, and prepared in a 

 variety of ways by mixing with numerous colours or with gold and silver. 

 In the old lacquer ware, of which the Japanese were the sole masters, so 

 long and tedious an operation was its preparation in depositing the 

 successive layers of lacquer that actual plates of gold and silver, mother- 

 o'-pearl, slices of shells or stones were worked into the design, and 

 covered with layer upon layer of lacquer, and the whole rubbed down to 

 an absolutely smooth and unbroken surface, capable of lasting for an 

 indefinite period. Many examples of this beautiful work can be seen in 

 the Kew Museum side by side with half-finished work and the crude 

 materials and tools used in its manipulation. 



If our inclination leads us from peaceful arts to warfare or the chase, 

 we shall find many illustrations in the Kew Museum of such articles. 

 Arrows, spears, and darts are not unfrequently poisoned by savage tribes, 

 to make their aim more deadly, and many of these poisons are of 

 vegetable origin. The best known is no doubt that of the upas tree 



(Antiaris toxicaria\ a 



juice of which is obtained from the bark. Of late years it has been the 

 subject of considerable attention by chemists, notwithstanding that the 

 poisonous nature of the tree has been known for one hundred and twenty 

 years or more. The poison valley of Java, with its upas trees was one of the 

 most interesting stories in botany of our boyhood, which in the light of 

 modern science we can now afford to laugh at. As the most recent 

 examination of upas poison has been made almost at the time we are 



crimes are sentenced to die, are the only persons who fetch the doU™ 

 After sentence is pronounced on them by the judge thev are aXS ' 

 Court whether they will die by the hands of the executioner, or whether 

 they will go to the upas tree for a box of poison. They are afterward, 

 sent to the house of the old priest, and remain some days, durine whirh 

 time the ecclesiastic prepares them for their future fate by pravers and 

 admonitions. When the hour of their departure arrives the priest puts 

 on them a long leather cap, with two glasses before their eyes which 

 comes down as far as their breast, and also provides them with a'pair of 

 leather gloves. The worthy old ecclesiastic has assured me that during 

 his residence there, for upwards of thirty years, he had dismissed above 

 seven hundred criminals in the manner which I have described, and that 

 scarcely two out of twenty have returned. He showed me a catalf gue of 

 all the unhappy sufferers with the date of their departure from his house 

 annexed, and a list of the offences for which they had been condemned. 

 I was present at some of these melancholy ceremonies." 



The horrors of the upas have now passed, and it is no longer neces- 

 sary to go to Java to learn its mysteries, which are now unfolded, and its 

 nature and properties are fully exhibited in No. 1 Museum at Kew 

 amid the pleasant surroundings of the Royal Gardens, as shown in our 

 picture. Indeed, all those objects which we have already referred to 

 are to be found in this same building. In the other picture, which is an 

 excellent representation of No. 3, or the Timber Museum, is arranged a 

 very fine collection of the choice woods of the Empire of India and the 

 British colonies, arranged in a geographical sequence according to the 

 countries producing them. This building was formerly known as the 

 Orangery, and for many years after the gardens were opened to the 

 public it was used in winter for the storage of such plants as could be 



' V* 



WOOD MUSEUM, KEW. 



writing, and has Deen embodied .n an address on arrow poisons delivered placed out of doors during; the summer but required shelter th™"^ 



to the North British Branch of the Pharmaceutical Society, by Dr. Ralph thewinter. " - 



Stockman, we take the opportunity of quoting from his interesting 

 statements. The active principle is known as Antiarine. It is extremely 

 poisonous, and experiments made by Dr. Stockman showed that i -6400th 

 gr. was sufficient to kill an ordinary-sized frog in comparison with 

 i-45ooth gr. strophanthin, and i-26ooth gr. urechitin. The sap is known 

 as Ipoh Kayu (tree poison) among the natves. It kills guinea pigs and 

 other small animals in a few minutes from stoppage of the heart, and has 

 been used in Cochin China against the French soldiers, who died in 

 from half an hour to several days after receiving their wounds. It i« 



from half an hour to several days after receiving their wounds. It is in 

 use throughout the Eastern Archipelago by nearly all the native peoples, 

 pure, or mixed with snake poison, scorpions, centipedes, other plants, 

 and occasionally with arsenic. 



Regarding the extraordinary stories that have been told about the 

 deadhness of the upas tree, Dr. Stockman says they are traceable to an 

 account of the tree written last century by a Dutch surgeon named 

 Foerscher, whose account was copied as genuine into a number of the 

 periodicals of the time, and thus obtained a wide circulation. The 

 following is an extract from this Dutch doctor's description : " I shall 

 now only relate simple, unadorned facts of which I have been an eye- 

 witness. In the year 1774 I was stationed at Batavia, and during my 

 residence there I received several different accounts of the Bohon upas 



and the violent effects of its poison ~ " " ! ' * 



and I resolved to investigate this subject „.». V w 6 ...„ »— 



only to my own observation \ had procured a recommendation 



from an old Malayan priest to another priest who lives on the 

 nearest habitable spot to the tree, which is about fifteen or sixteen miles 

 oistant. T he letter proved of great service to me in my undertaking, as 

 that priest is appointed by the Emperor to reside there in order to prepare 

 tor eternity the souls of those who for different crimes are sentenced to 

 approach the tree and to procure the poison. Malefactors, who for their 



puu-cu uui ui uoors aunng' tne summer oui i^uucu 

 the winter. The erection of the central portion of the Temperate House 

 left this building free, and it was at once converted into a museum tor 

 large specimens of timber, and a few other objects requiring special 

 cases that cannot be accommodated in the arranged collections in 

 Museums Nos. 1 and 2 One such special collection is of P eculia f" in " 

 terest, as it is devoted entirely to illustrating the uses to which bamboos 

 are put in Japan, and is the more valuable just now when 

 culture in this country is attracting so much attention. Space win noi 

 allow us to do more than mention the existence of still another ™ useum ' 

 which is officially known as No. 2. In this building are arranged tne 

 monocotyledonous orders, such as Scitamine?e, Liliacea?, Palmea-, t»ra- 



Cryptogams. Thus advantage is taken m the 

 buildings of dividing their contents into the dicotyledons in No. i, tne 

 monocotyledons in No. 2, and the timbers and special objects in wo. * 

 each of which is equally valuable both from a scientific and trom a coi 

 mercial point of view, for all the collections are made much use oi 

 those engaged in trade and commerce, as well as by the teaching 

 profession. John R. Jackson, A.i*.o>, 



Royal Gardens, Ken: Keeper of the Museums. 



They all seemed incredible to me, 



thoroughly, and to trust 



