Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 July 1875 — Upas and Strychnine. [ARTICLE]

Upas and Strychnine.

Many fictions have been told of the poison of the upas tree, emanating chiefly from the Dutch traveler Foerset, who was among the first to note the tree in its native wilds in the East Indies and in the islands of the Malay Archipelago. It was said by Foerset that the exhalations from the upas were so virulent that no animal could exist iu its vicinity. Birds were declared to fall dead that attempted to fly over the tree or to alight in its branches, and animals that ventured into the valley where it grew were quickly overcome by its blighting breath, and, falling dead in the act of retreat, left their bones to attest that the place was a veritable Valley of Death. Naturalists have since proved these stories to be false, for the upas not only thrives among other trees without occasioning them any injury-, but birds and beasts may seek its shelter with impunity. Upas is the Malay- name for poison, and is applied to various deadly vegetable products in the islands off the southern coast of Asia. The most noted of these poisons is produced by the antjor (antiari* toxicarid), a tree native to the Sundu and Philippine Islands. It belongs to the same natural order ( artocarpacea ) as the breadfruit, and grows to the height of 100 feet, its trunk giving off a crown of superb foliage at the height of eighty feet. From the milky juice of that tree the Malays prepare a poison into which they dip their arrows. These penetrating the flesh are speedily fatal to man and the large mammalia. 'Animals killed by the poison may, however, be eaten with perfect safety. The only remedy for the venom is severe vomiting with profuse perspiration. The prepare upas poison is kept in closed tubes of bamboo, and is said to lose its strength by age. It is not known what is the deadly principle in the juice of the upas, but it appears to be an alkaloid. The fables with regard to the poisonous exhalations of the "upas tree probably Jrew out of the fact that on the island of ava there is a narrow valley- in which all life is quickly cut off by the emanations of carbonic acid from the ground. But the upas tree is as incapable of subsisting in this fearful wilderness as is every form of vegetable and animal life. As in the Grotto del Cane near Naples, and the vapor cave at Pvrmont, in Germany, the gas in the fatal Valley of Java infallibly causes the death of all beings that breathe near the ground. Mankind alone can traverse the desolate region, inasmuch as the suffocating vapors do not rise to a height of above four or five feet. In the forests of Java there grows another venomous plant scarcely inferior to the upas tree in its poisonous properties. It bears among the Malays the name of rajah upas, or poison of princes, hut botanists know it as the Strychiws Ticntc. It is a climbing shrub and sends its leafless, coiling stems to the top of the loftiest trees, 100 feet ormore, and there gives out its large, green, glossy leaves, alternating with stout tendrils anti mingled with frequent clusters of snowy blossoms. In the bark of this shrub is "secreted a poisonous juice, in which the Malays dip their arrows. So active is jts nature that a tiger, receiving a slight wound from one of these envenomed darts, is instantlyseized with violent trembling, stands for a moment on his feet, and then fails., in terrible convulsions that quickly end in death.

The Strychno* Ticnte belongs to one of the most venomous families of the vegetable kingdom: the Loganideea. Most of the members of the tribe live in tropical or sub-tropical countries. The Strychnot muvomica furnishes the fatal drug Nux-Vomi-ca, from which strychnine is derived. It grows in the East Indies, and is a tree of middling height, with ovate leaves, small, greenish-white flowers, and a beautiful orange-colored fruit, the size of a small apple, with a brittle shell and a white gelatinous pulp. The pulp of the fruit is harmless, and is greedily eaten by birds, but the seeds imbedded in the pulp are loaded with strychnine, and form the nuxvomica of commerce. The bark of the

tree also partakes of the poisonous quality of the seeds. A single drop of the juice touching the naked skin produces blisters and violent inflammation. The wood of the tree is hard and durable. A small tree of the same genus as the nux-vomica, the Strychnos potatorum, or clearing-nut, is abundant in the forests of India. It has deeply fissured bark, smooth, ovate, pointed leaves and a shining, black, pulpy fruit, containing a singly seed. The seeds of the tree are commonly used for cleaning turbid water, and are sold for the purpose in the bazars, and are carried about by travelers. After rubbing the inside of a vessel with the seeds, all imparities in the water with which it is filled immediately settle at the bottom. The natives of India never drink well water if they can get pond or river water, which is always more or less" impure. The pulp of the fruit of the S. potatorum is eaten by the Indians, but foreigners rind the taste of it disagreeable. The* Strychnos tox if era * is a climbing plant, abounding in the forests along the banks of the great equatorial rivers, of South America. It is called by the natives mavacure liana, and yields the frightful poison known as woorare, ourari, uroli, etc. Humboldt thus describes the manufacture of the poison: ‘‘When the bark of the mavacure is opened a yellowish liquid continues to ooze out tor several hours drop by drop. This filtered juice is the poisonous liquid, hut it has not acquired all. its strength until it is concentrated by evaporation in a large clay pot placed over a tire. The Indian who filled the office of Poison-Master asked me trom time to time to taste this poison liquid. It is by the bitterness of the taste that one judges whether the poison has been sufficiently concentrated. There is no danger in tasting curare, as it becomes fatal only by coming iu direct contact with the blood.” The bark of Strychnos pseudoguina, which is found in Brazil, is in much repute as a febrifuge. The children eat the fruit of the tree without danger, but all other parts, especially the bark, are extremely bitter and lather, aStriagcnt- It is universally used in the place of cinchona. It is sold under the name of Copulehe bark, and is said to he fully equal to Peruvian bark in its medicinal qualities.—Chicago Tribune.