as Alexipharmics or Snake-bite Antidotes . 155 
( Tecoma leucoxylon , Mart.) are stated to act as an antidote 
against the juice of the Manchioneel ; in this case both the 
poison and the antidote are found to grow side by side. 
Another antidote to the poison of the Manchioneel is derived 
from the uncooked rhizomes of the Arrow- root plant, Maranta 
arundinacea , Rose. These possess in a fresh state acrid, 
rubefacient, and salivatory properties. When applied to a 
wounded surface caused by the caustic juice of the Man- 
chioneel the result is said to be most beneficial. 
The number of plants which are believed to be antidotes 
to snake-poison is very large. Poisonous snakes are widely 
distributed, and the injuries they inflict cause more deaths 
than possibly all the poisonous plants put together. It is 
not a matter of surprise therefore that in all ages efforts 
have been made to discover some antidote to snake-poison. 
It is very remarkable that one genus of plants, the dis- 
tribution of which is as wide almost as that of poisonous 
snakes, has been generally credited with the power of healing 
snake-bites. This is the genus Aristolochia. In many 
countries these plants are called Snake- roots. This name 
has been applied to them, not as is supposed in accordance 
with the so-called doctrine of signatures , from some fancied 
resemblance of the roots to snakes, but, according to Hanbury 
and Fluckiger, on account of the wide-spread application of 
the roots and other parts as antidotes to snake-bites. 
The genus Aristolochia consists of about 180 species of 
plants widely distributed throughout tropical and temperate 
regions. They are inhabitants chiefly of tropical America, 
are rare in the North temperate zones, occasionally distributed 
in tropical Asia, and moderately frequent in the Mediterranean 
region. 
They are herbs or shrubs often twining over trees. The 
flowers are remarkable for the peculiar inflated form of the 
calyx perianth, which is sometimes large, and of a lurid colour. 
The woody stem consists of radiating plates of wood sur- 
rounding a pith, and encircled by the bark. Hence there 
are no concentric rings as in the wood of dicotyledonous 
M 3 
