170 MALAY POISONS AND CHARM CUBES 



(akar ipoh), collected in 1809 by Leschenault in Java, 

 began to be known as upas tieut^. Ipoh is a Malay 

 word used for dart poisons in general, in the same way 

 as the word tuba is used for fish poisons (which see, 

 p. 214). 



The active principle of Strychnos tieut6 has been 

 shown by H. and G. Santesson to be the alkaloid 

 brucine (Arckiv. de Pharmacie, 1893, p. 591), Brucine 

 is a derivative of strychnine ; it occurs in all the species 

 of Strychnos. It closely resembles strychnine in its 

 physiological action, and acts principally on the spinal 

 cord, causing excessive reflex irritability, and in very 

 large doses death from paralysis of the central nervous 

 system ; but it is much less toxic, the relative toxicities 

 of the two allialoids being as 4 to 33 (Eef. 12). It 

 also differs from strychnine in its more powerful 

 curari'like action on the nerve terminations in voluntary 

 muscle. Death is due to failure of respiration and stop- 

 page of the heart. The poison contained in aka/r ipok 

 is somewhat akin to the curari or urari arrow poison 

 of South America, wtnch is an aqueous extract of various 

 species of Strychnos indigenous to that country. 



Dart Poison, — Poison prepared for blowpipe darts 

 by the jungle tribes of the Malay Peninsula sometimes 

 contains akar ipoh alone ; but is more often a mixture 

 of akar ipoh and the fresh juice of pokok ipoJi, the upas 

 tree* The Negritos of Perak (Semang) poison both 

 an*ows and blowpipe darts with akm ipoh. The bark 

 of the plant and its roots are shredded when fresh, 

 and then boiled until the decoction thickens to a black 

 paste with an intensely bitter taste. Eidley remarks 

 that " intensely bitter as is the fruit and especially the 

 pulp enclosing the seeds, both monkeys and civet cats 

 eat it, the latter appearing especially fond of it." 

 Mr. Ridley's note is of interest because the immunity 



