302 
HYDRO CYANIC ACID PROM BITTER CASSAVA ROOT. 
Howell for introducing this bottle to their notice.* A committee had been 
formed for the purpose of investigating this subject, and he thought it very 
desirable that they should resume their inquiry, so that the best precautions 
might be adopted for securing the safety of the public. 
The following papers were then read :— 
ON THE PRODUCTION OE HYDROCYANIC ACID PROM 
BITTER CASSAVA ROOT. 
BY W. F. DANIELL, M.D., F.L.S., HON. MEM. PHARMACEUTICAL SOCIETY OF 
GREAT BRITAIN. 
The presence of Hydrocyanic Acid in the roots of the bitter Cassava ( Manx - 
hot utilissima, Polil) was known so far back as 1836, from an analysis insti¬ 
tuted by MM. Henry and Chalard, two French chemists, who arrived at the 
conclusion, that the active or poisonous principle of the product exclusively 
depended on this acid. At a subsequent date their researches were confirmed 
by Dr. Christison, from experiments on a supply of the preserved juice brought 
from one of our West India colonies. The specimen of this acid in a diluted 
form now on the table, with the connected preparations, was obtained from the 
fresh roots by Mr. Hughes, a young pharmaceutical student, a Creole resident 
in Kingston, Jamaica, by a process probably analogous to one of those detailed 
by chemical authorities. I may mention that Mr. Hughes is a representative of 
a type of young men, on the increase in many of our colonies, who are com¬ 
pelled to follow their preliminary studies under peculiar difficulties, owing, to 
a great extent, to their limited resources ; hence in their early youth they are 
obliged to undergo a life of unremitting toil to enable them to procure the 
funds necessary to gain the diploma of the Pharmaceutical Society,—a diplo¬ 
ma, I may observe, which is now held in high esteem in Jamaica and most 
portions of the globe. 
The production of hydrocyanic acid in the tropics, where the raw material 
is abundantly provided, is evidently deserving of some attention; for, al- 
* Safety Poison Capsule .—The purpose to which the design has reference, is to prevent 
mistakes in dispensing medicines, as the capsule cannot be removed from the bottle without 
pressing on the side levers, which liberate the two pins from the neck of the bottle. 
References to the drawing:—A, Plan view; B, Elevation; C, Section. 
