POISONOUS PROPERTIES AND USE OF TANGHIN. 
35 
ART. VI. — POISONOUS PROPERTIES AND USE OF 
TANGHIN. 
Du Petit Thouars is the first who^in his Genera Mada- 
gascariensia, has spoken of this plant, which he designates 
by the name Thanghinia veneniflua. More recently Mr. 
Hooker, profiting by his relations with Mr. Boyer, of the 
island of Mauritius, has published a complete description of 
it in the Botanical Magazine, accompanied with a plate, 
under the name of Cerbere tanghin. The following is a 
subsequent description given by M.M. Boyer and Hilsenbey. 
This tree, say they, attains thirty feet in height, and produces 
a whitish gelatinous juice; its leaves are lanceolate, entire, 
similar to those of the Nerium oleander, or the periwinkle of 
Madagascar, Vinca arborea; the flower is of the same color, 
and nearly resembles that of the two plants mentioned, which 
belong to the family Apocynese. The fruit is a drupe, open- 
ing at maturity; it has the form and size of a lemon; the sur- 
face is shining, yellow, and streaked here and there with red; 
in the centre is found a stone like that of the peach. This 
fruit undergoes a change from age; it becomes red and poison- 
ous in the centre at the period of maturity, which is distin- 
guished by its withering, and becoming wrinkled upon the 
surface. It is in this state that it is employed to prepare the 
drink which plays so conspicuous a part in the annals of the 
judiciary of Madagascar. In some places, the condemnation 
of criminals depends upon the circumstance of their living 
or dying after drinking the tanghena. If the dose pro- 
duces death, the individual was culpable; if he survives, 
his innocence is evident. At Emerina, where Mr. Hooker 
has resided, this poison is only administered in a very 
small dose; it then acts as an emetic. The accused, after 
having eaten a sufficient quantity of boiled rice, swal- 
lows, without chewing, three pieces of the skin of a fowl 
as large as a crown piece. Then is administered the test 
draught, composed of a small quantity of the pulverized root 
