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Poison- Secreters. 
[November, 
VII. POISON-SECRETERS. 
By J. W. Slater. 
NE of the most interesting phenomena in the organic 
world is the power which many species — vegetable 
as well as animal — possess of elaborating poisons. 
These poisons differ among themselves most widely in almost 
every imaginable respeCt, and present a host of unsolved 
problems, to some of which I shall have occasion to refer. 
But, with few exceptions, they surpass the mineral poisons 
in deadliness. Arsenic and corrosive sublimate are inert or 
mild as compared with the aconitine of the vegetable world 
or the “ cobric acid ” of the animal kingdom. 
This faCt, it may be remarked in passing, throws a some- 
what novel light on the statement so commonly found in 
advertisements of quack medicines, that they, being of 
“ purely vegetable origin,” may be taken without danger. 
The first point which strikes us in glancing over the long 
roll of organic poisons is, that they fall naturally into two 
great classes, the offensive and the defensive. This dis- 
tinction lies not in the poisons themselves, but in the cir- 
cumstances that the creatures elaborating the former class 
are provided with some special apparatus by means of which 
they can introduce the deadly secretion into the body of 
their prey, or of a supposed enemy. The purely defensive 
poisons, on the other hand, exist in the body of some plant 
or animal, and are perfectly harmless if let alone. But as 
soon as any animal devours, or attempts to devour, or in 
some cases merely touches the poison-bearer, it suffers pain, 
sickness, or death. Such defensive poisons are most com- 
mon in vegetals, where they occur sometimes in the entire 
plant, but sometimes only in one particular D2rt, such as 
the seeds or the root, other parts remaining wholesome. 
Certain animals also are in possession of defensive poisons. 
The common toad is a striking instance. This creature has 
undergone strange vicissitudes of reputation. In the 
olden time it was unhesitatingly ranked as malignantly 
venomous : — 
“ Toad that under the cold stone 
Days and nights has thirty one 
Sweltered venom sleeping got.” 
Then as this animal became better known, and was found 
to be utterly devoid of any appliance by which poison might 
