The Newtown bee., 1879-05-27
ABOUT POISONS.
Some Important Facts which Ought to be
 Generally Known.

Some Important Facts which Ought to be
 Generally Known.
 "Poison: A substance which, when taken into the stomach, mixed with the blood, or applied to the skin or flesh, proves fatal or deleterious; anything in- fectious or malignant" Our scissors make the first clip out of Webster for a definition of the greatest evil as well as the greatest good known in the medical world. For after the fashion of the old saying, Ut takes a thief to catch a thief" in public systems, so in the indi- vidual system if one poison has stolen away into the network of veins by fair means or foul, there is small hope of re- covering ones own, save another poison be sent after it.
 All medicines seem to be more or less poisonous. But owing to the large doses those chased ''less' require to produce death or even deleterious effects, they are by the mass of people regarded as harmless, for arsenic, strychnine. opium, chloroform, mercury and per haps few other prominent remedies cover all, to them, dangerous poisons. Yet we read in daily paper of child suddenly attacked by severe vomiting which the usual remedies failing to check, ends in exhaustion and death and the cause is laid anywhere but at the confectioner's counter where the boy bought his candies and cakes favored with bitter almond.
 The bitter almond is powerful poi son." A single drop of the essential oil on cats tongue made dead pussy of a living one injust five minutes, by exper- iment. Some delicate organizations, especially among children, can bear but little of th;s on-o.,>.a .l~~ ------1,~-4 = tity producing an eruption like nettle- rash, if nothing worse, and yet maca- rooms are eaten and given to children to eat with impunity, while confectioners are often, nowadays, using, not the bitter almond, but the essential oil for their favoring. There is a family connec- tion" between the bitter and sweet al- mond, how close is not easily defined, but sufficient to show that on some per sons the sweet nut on our tables, featen, produces an effect similar to that caused by the bitter almond.
 Fish poison is one of the most singu- lar in all the range of toxicology." Ger tain kinds of fish in hot countries are looked upon as always poisonous. Other kinds are only poisonous to peculiar con- stitutions, at certain times, and perhaps depending somewhat on the climate. The richer sort of vertebrate fish, though actually eaten with perfect safety by mankind in general, are nevertheless poisonous, either at all times or only oc- casionally to peculiar individuals. This fact is self-evident to many of us who have experienced nausea after eating whitefish, salmon, lobster, etc., at one time or another, and instinct is wise when it needs the hint and declines the poison in future.
 Lead poisoning we are more familiar with, as some members ofour households are more susceptible than others to the injurious effect of water run through lead pipes. But the poison in this case, acting slowly and subtly, is usually classed under the broad, good-naturedly
 
 who work in lead mines or in any way with lead and absorb its fine dust into their systems, except by the greatest care, sooner or later have what in gen. eral phraseology is called printers or painters palsy. The habit of children to bite and wet their lead pencils is often followed by serious results, which are mora ElG1v fo Ia fraoaJ f<, z, ol,,.r -.J,x<x1 room and hard study than to the lead pencils, slate pencils and chalk they have munched on at short intervals five days out ofevery seven.
 Another of the everyday poisons is found in the syrup which is leading feature of the American breakfast-table. The use of chloride of tin in glucose syrups has been proved by numerous analyses" Think of that. oh ye who in. dulge in golden dripn and maple syrup" on cold, wintry mornings on your hot cakes. Beware of any syrup that leaves ametallictaste in your mouth, lest by means of the sweet liquid your stomach gets tin lining, and you, won dering why on earth you have developed dyspepsia, conclude that it must be the hot cakes disagree with you. And if the said cakes are made of the raising-easy stuff called bakiag- very likely the disagreement can, in part, be laid to them, for analysis has also shown that baking powder contains large propor- tion of desiccated alum. Journal of Mo- teriu Medicd
 The last census gave thirteen South ern States s,256, ,336 white inhabitants of B, ,5S9,3 ,377 in the whole country, and 4 ,279, ,3l3 of the 1, ,8s0, ,O0o colored. With ? 1858, ,9A agriculturists they raised 3,01I,- 257 bales of cotton, or substantially the