156 MALAY POISONS AND CHABM CUBES 



the fact that the whole, of the physiological symptoms 

 caused by Aruins is due to needle-shaped crj^stals of 

 oxalate of lime and that the symptoms are thus due 

 to pmTly mechanical causes " (Ref. 15, p. 1344). The 

 loss of practically the whole of the physiological activity 

 on drying is explained by the writers in this way : In the 

 process of drying or cooking the needles appear to 

 arrange themselves more or less parallel to one another, 

 and the sharp points thus cover a smaller area. And 

 so, instead of each crystal acting as a separate source of 

 irritation and penetrating th^ tissues, the bundles act 

 as a whole. None of the keladi mentioned above are 

 used as food in Kelantan ; but the corms of other species 

 that are poisonous in the fresh state are rendered 

 harmless by washing before use as food by the Malay 

 housewife. 



The irritating effect of the fresh juice of this family 

 on the skin is well known. In the sixteenth century 

 the use of Arum maculatura, the only representative in 

 England, is described by John Gerarde (1597) m his 



Herball " : " The most pure and white starch is made 

 of the rootes of the Cuckow-pint ; most hurtful for the 

 hands of the laundresse that hath the handhng of it ; 

 for it choppeth, blistereth, and maketh the hands 

 rough and rugged, and withall smarting." Dr. Parkins 

 in " The English Physician " (1814) says : " The whole 

 plant (Cuckow-pint) is of a very sharp biting taste, 

 pricking the tongue as nettles do the hands, and so 

 abideth for a great while without alteration." A 

 broken berry placed upon the tongue is sufficient to 

 UTitate it : a case is recorded in England in which three 

 children ate some of the berries ; their tongues became 

 so swollen as to render swallowing difficult ; convulsions 

 followed and two died, but one recovered. Another 

 patient who had eaten only a small piece of the corm. 



