POISONS FEOM INORGANIC SOUBCES 229 



life from ptomaine poisoning in the absence of chemical 

 and bacteriological analysis. Dr. Bm'ton Brown 

 records a similar fatality in India : two native cavalry- 

 men and two other natives showed signs of poisoning 

 by arsenic shortly after their evening meal ; arsenions 

 acid was found in the crevice of a stone used to prepare 

 curry powder for the dinner. He also records another 

 case in which a hollow glass pestle was found filled with 

 arsenious acid : the poison could easily be mixed with 

 curry powder by inverting the pestle and removing the 

 finger over the opening at the top (Eef. 3). 



In 1914 a Chinese coolie, under arrest for theft, 

 managed to commit suicide by swallowing a quantity 

 of powdered tuba tikm in a single dose. He died within 

 eight hours after violent vomiting and purging. The 

 body was brought to the State hospital from a distance, 

 and on examination the poison was recognised without 

 difficulty by the touch and naked eye as a gritty white 

 powder in the stomach and intestines, which were 

 other\\ise empty, but acutely inflamed. Arsenic is 

 seldom used as a means of suicide by Chinese in Malaya 

 on account of the violent vomiting it causes if taken in 

 one or possibly two lethal doses ; opium finds greater 

 favour for the pm-pose. In 1919 a Tamil woman 

 employed as a coolie by the Kelantan railway depart- 

 ment lost her life from acute arsenical poisoning by 

 mistaking '* white-ant-killer " for the lime which is 

 used in the Far East for betel-chewing. 



In India arsenic, as mentioned above, is in common 

 use for murder. Burton Brown, writing with the ripe 

 experience of many cases, sums up the effects among 

 natives of India as follows : " The smallest fatal does 

 is from two to three grains. The earliest appearance of 

 symptoms (otherwise than the taste) recorded was three 

 minutes. The longest interval between taking the 



