532 SELECT COMMITTEE ON CONTAGIOUS DISEASES BILL. 
it necessary that it should be a large flesh-wound, an arrow 
with the finest point, or a needle coated with concentrated 
poison may be sufficient to destroy life. 
How startling is the assertion of Dr. Heintz, that three 
milligrammes of the poisonous extractive matter which he 
obtained killed a rabbit in seven minutes ! 
Under such an aspect it is certainly of the greatest impor- 
tance that our best chemists should institute a more searching 
inquiry into the nature of the urari, how its application may 
be discovered and its effects counteracted. 
The assertion of Mr. Reynoso, that chlorine and bromine 
are antidotes, ought to be tested by a series of experiments, 
not only with the best urari poison, but likewise by extracts 
obtained by scientific means from the bark of the Strychnos 
toxifera and other species of plants belonging to that genus. 
So many years have elapsed since I left British Guiana, 
that I scarcely know to whom to apply to procure good 
Macusi urari; but I am persuaded, if those who wish to 
occupy themselves with such an interesting research were to 
address themselves to the Royal Agricultural and Commercial 
Society of British Guiana, or to Dr. Blair, or Dr. Dalton at 
Demerara, their application would be successful, and that 
useful institution, or the scientific gentlemen just named, 
would exert themselves to procure the true Macusi poison. 
I mention it as of great importance to obtain, at the same 
time, the pure bark of the Sir y chinos toxifera , in order to 
ascertain, by scientific investigations in Europe, the active 
principle which I am persuaded is contained in the Strychnos 
toxifera in the highest degree, though other species of that 
genus may possess it more or less. 
“A fine chemical and physiological investigation remains 
to be accomplished in Europe on the toxiques of the New 
World,” stated Humboldt forty years ago. Unfortunately, 
but little advance has since been made in that direction, and 
the same important desideratum remains still to be accom- 
plished. — Pharmaceutical Journal. 
PARLIAMENTARY INTELLIGENCE. 
EXTRACTS FROM MINUTES OF EVIDENCE OF THE “ SELECT 
COMMITTEE ON THE SHEEP, &c., CONTAGIOUS DISEASES 
PREVENTION BILL/’ 
( Examination of Mr. J. B. Simonds continued from p. 471.) 
47. Explain to the Committee how you propose to dis- 
cover those unfortunate animals ? — I think that farmers 
