The anti-monopolist. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1874-1878, 1878-09-12

twelve miles. Criminals condemned
to die were offered the chance of life
if they would go to the upas tree and
collect some of the poison. They
were furnished with proper directions
and armed with due precaution, but
not two out Of every twenty ever re-
turned" DR.. Foersch states that he
obtained his information from some
Of the survivors who had been lucky
enough to escape, although the ground
was strewed with the skeletons of
their predecessors; and such was the
virulence of the poison that there are
no fish in the waters, nor has any rat,
mouse, or other vermin been een
there: and when any birds fly nea the
tree, SO that the ef1uvia reach them,
they fall dead, a sacrifice to the
poison. These statements having
been quoted by DR.. Darwin in his
Botanic Garden" we're thence dis
seminated through Europe.
The upas is a tree often attaining a
height Of over 100 feet, and found
native in the islands of the Indian
Archipelago. The stamens and pis-
ills are found on separate flowers on
the same tree, or, botanically speaking
the plant is menecious. The tree be-
longs.to the natural family Artocarpa-
cee, the plants Of which almost all
abound in juices that are d%eleterious
to a high degree; although it includes
many that are extremely useful to
man in many ways, among these, for
instance. the famous COW tree, which
yields a rich and wholesome milk; the
lFicus 1ndica, which produces gum
shellac; FicuS Carica, producing figs;
Morus, or mulberry tree, etc. The
upas tree, when pierced, exudes a
milky juice which contains an acrid
virulent poison, called antiarin. This,
when dried, forms a poison in which
the natives dip their arrows. AS
specimens of the tree have long been
cultivated in botanic gardens, the re-
ports regarding its venomous ex-
halations are known to be as erroneous
as those will be some day that at
present ascribe to Eucalyptus the
power of emitting febrifuge exhala-
tiOns.
The mistaken notion that long con
nected this noxions property with the
upas arose from the fact that the tree
occasionally grows in certain low val
by an escape of carbonic acid gas
from crevices in the ground. and
emitted in such a quantity rs to be
fatal to animals that approach too
closely. These poisonous valleys are
connected with the numerous vOlca-
noes of the island. According to
Reinwardt, sulphurouS vapOrs are
given off in such abundance from the
~craters of some of these volcanoes as
to cause the death of a great number
of tigers. birds. and insects; while in
some cases, the rivers and lakes are
SO charged with sulphuric acid that
no fish can exist in them. The upas
tree, therefore. although there is no
doubt as to its inherent poisonous
nature, has had to bear the reproach
really due to volcanoes and their pro-
duets.
Fecundity of the Queen Bee
Baron B~erlepsch, in several different
experiments made to find out how
many eggs are dailo deposited by the
queen bee, discovered that she laid
1904 eggs in twenty-fonr hours, rs
the result of the first. In the second.
she deposited on IN average 1913
daily, for the space Of twenty-days.
In the third one, an average Of 2.4OO
daily was found for the am length
0 ftime. In the fourth, she deposited
1921 in twenty-four hours. She was
seen by him to deposite 6 eggs in n
minute. A writer in the National
Live Stock Journal states that a
gentleman told him. at the Illinois
State Fair, that he had know a queen
To deposit an average Of $500 eggs
daily for several days. As to his W
experience, he had known 1900 eggs
to he deposited within the short space
of four hours.
The Ascent of Sap.-A theory as to
the rapid ascent Of sap in the tissues
Of plants has recently been brought
forward by II. J. Boehm. 1t is based
upon the elasticity Of cells. He
states that "swhen the surface cells of
a plant have lost a portion OF their
water through evaporation they are
somewhat compressed by the air.
pressure. Like elastic bladders, how
ever, they tend to resume their orIgi-
nal form, which is only possible by
their taking in air and water from
without. Since moist membranes are
little penetrable by air. the outer
cells which are further in portion Of
their liquid contents. These. in turn
borrow from their neighbors further
down, which contain more water, and
go on, either to the extreme root cells
Or to those parts Of the stem which
are supplied with water from below
through root pressure"
The Migrations of a Parasitic
Worm.-Among the hosts 0f animal
forms that live as parasites on or ir
other animals, there are certain worms
which are free when young, and be-
come parasites only at a later period
of their evolution. For example the
Guinea worm (Filarsd medinensis) is
the terror of travellers who visit the
coast of Guinea; 1t is only common on
the west cost of Africa, but has
recently been found in Turkistan and
South Carolina. This worm under
goes its final development in the
simultaneous and intermuscular cell
lnlar tissue of man, and attain5 a
length of u feet. 1t has been ascer
tanned that the parasite, as a micr0s-
-1--@ 1~