22 A RtCK BUBSTfTrTK. 
GQltivated in central America when the- 
fir&t Spaoiarda visited those countries and 
onlj ODB of th^-se belonged to the sweet 
kind. Fob] eoppcgee titat tbe Mftoihot poasii* 
la maj be looked apon as tbe stock from^ 
which nil vsrietieB of tapioca are der(i!*ed. 
The nativeB of central America^ have, from 
ttmei immemoriai drawn cheir ■vef|;e''able 
food from thi9 roba^t plant; and evBu after 
tbe arrival tfthe while man it reaoAJned 
the staple of the popaUtioo, Docs tb cot 
seem sbran^e to Srd a po'sotoofl plant 
drawn from a vegetable family of polaonong 
plants 90 o^eFnl from an alimentary view 
point? 
Mr, Siigot, in a report made to the 
Societt^ ButHpDtqTifi de France m 1871 on 
this very sobjecD said : *' It is biglilj 
probable th&t itie pobon of bitter tspicca 
19 an organic componod of little atabilitj^ 
hnrtfal bj itself, but danf^eroni as it prt?- 
dnoea, in certain circnmstances, prnsaioacid* 
Tbe leaver c£ tap'oc^, wlien rumpled will 
emit a iight odour of bitter onta and tbe 
formation of proasic acid has been plainly 
observed in cbemicat researches connected 
with tbe tsp'ooA tnUer. Tbta ought to 
explain the fotloi»ing puzzling facts : how 
tapioca watt r is 'a poisou, Inw distilled 
tapioca water is a much stronger poison, 
how tapioCA water boifei for some time 
and Bkimmtd ta harmless as it; is used for 
food by tbe Indians in Oniana and Braeil ; 
how gnawing animals are sometimes poison- 
ed by en ting the leaf^eaand roota of tapioca 
while at times no harm befalls them. It is 
quite obviona from the Utter case that if 
the qaantity taken be moderate aod 
immediately the gastric jnio© reacts very 
Btronglj no protatc acid is produced," — For 
