Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-03-07
MYsrERIors rorsoxs.
The True Stories About Them AsD msrs
Wonderful Than the Falss Ouss.

Wonoerfui Than the Halee ODoo.
Ffon the Ne~ Yors sun.
Not long ago daily Newspaper conisineds
paragraph dated New London. Conn. vhich
told how farmer and his wife were overpcw-
cred by the noxious fumes Of n stick Of poison
alder which hSd been thrown into TIE kitchen
stove, and how physician had a hard struggle
10 save their hves- reporter showed IL 10
well-known scientist who has made the study
OF toxicology speciality. and asked him
whether there could possibly be any truth in
it, Here is what the professor said:
Young man. take ont your note book sit
down and listen and I will tell YOU something
about subject that the pubic know. les
about than any other sabject in the world
That story isn't true, and nothing like 10 ever
was true or ever viii be true. II is Of exnctiv
the same character n che following myths
which am going TO relate 10 ven.
''On the island Of Java grows the bohun upAs
tree. which owes its notoriety % foer-ch, Q
surgeon in the employ Of the Dutch Fast India
Company. who. nearly a hundred years ago,
told some wonderful stories about IT, lie re-
lated how the emanstion. Of tins tree Killed all
animals that approached IL; how the birds
that few too near IL zen dead; how criminals
that were condemned 60 death were allowed 20
collect leaves from the tree. and that only two
out Of twenty ever returned: how IL grew in .
valley with no tree plant within ten miles Of
II. all being barren waste. strewn with human
AMI other bones. II was beautiful story and
the world believed IL. Scientists discovered In
$50 that the npas ~asa very poisonous tree,
whose effects were similar TO those Of poison
ivy;
Next is the manehineel a poisonous ever
green tree which grows in the West India
Islands. This tree Was said to he even more
deadly than the upas, and II was generally sup
posed that drop of its juice falling upon the
skin had the same effect rs the application Of .
red-hot iron. The milky juice Of this tree is
undoubtedly highly poisonous. but such stories
as the above are highly exaggerated This
persons mere seriously than others. IL /. said
that the smoke from burning manchineel
wood produces temporary blindness This is
true In a measure, though IL does not affect
every one in the same way. Berthoh See
MANN the botanist. was blind for a few DAYS
after he had gathered some OF the leaves az the
tree on the coast Of Florida. and some Of the
crew were blind for nearly a week from having
made a fire of the wood.
.'Dramatists as q rule do not know the drst
thing about poisons. Nathaniel Lee. in his
tragedy of Alexander makes one Of hi. char
acters administer poison TO the conqueror Of
the world, which,
AMI n s Inn his ss sn *. s sss
safer swallowing this terrible mixture. Alex
ander goes through the latter part Of the fourth
and most OF the fifth act. kills q man makes a
fine speech, raves wildly. RECEIVERS his sense
and, after fine dying address, goes or Now,
there isn't a poison in the world which can pro-
duce such effect. There is q poison liste
known TO playwrights. which has q much more
wonderful effoct than this, but very few people
know anything about it. After IL h swallowed
the person walks about for tine varying from
half an hour TO two hours; then his skin. and
even the whites Of his eyes, become Of . strange
purplisn, hvid color. He may feel perfectly
well, when suddenly acute pain will set in, and
in few moments he dies This eject d pro-
duced by nitro benzine.
Then there is Philip Massineer. Who in his
play. The Duke OF Milan shows that be
doesn't know the first thing about toxicology.
One OF the characters scatters a poisone rs
powder over a flower. which il afterward eiven
to female some OF the powder falls on her
hand and when her lover salutes the tips Of
her fingers he dies Pure aconitine ITSELF the
most powerful of all known vegetable poisons
would hardly produce that effect.
"1he most powerful and deadly poison in the
world and at the same time the oldest one
known to mankind is prussic acid. To Illus
trate its antiquity: An Egyptologist has read
on an Egytisn pspyrus preserved at the Louvre
Pronounce not the name of J. A. D. under the
penalty Of the peach The only poison which
can be distilled from the peach is prussic acid
so that it must have been known 20 the Eeyp-
tians- knightin the reign of nberius accused
of high treason, swallowed poison and fell dead
at the feet OF the senator's. No poison but
prussic acid and that only in q concentrated
state would have had this effect. The prussic
acid that is sold in drug stores 10 only diluted
stuff, containing a small percentage OF the real
geld. Pure prussic acid Is made only in chem
ical laboratories and il IL 20 powerful that were
person to inhale the fumes arising from i in
one good Whit he would drop dead.
Another interesting poison il the dhatoora
OF the Hindoos q species Of belladonna which
these people administer 10 persons Of high rank
to produce imbecility. 1t is distilled from
the seeds Of the common thorn apple, vhich
nleuflfully IN kSH Jersav a. S<sa an
India"