The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1901-11-01
EA POISONOUS PONCANA ADMBSMN ATTORNEYS WORK FOR THE MONUMENT
SEEDS or THa GREEN PODS
PROVE FATAL.
Government Chemist to Make Analy-
sis-Children Are In the Habit of
Eating Seeds.

Joao Silva, a Portuguese boy II
years old, died yesterday from the
effects of eating Ponciana beans. lie
had been i'll before he ate the beans.
but the poison in them is supposed 10
nave caused his death. He was attend
ed by DR.. 9. Il. Camp, with DR.. j. II.
Macdonald as consulting physician.
and the cause of death is given by the
doctors as gastritis.
No inquest was held in the case of
young Silva. Some of the beans were
turned over to DIR. Shorey of the Board
OF Health, for analysis, and he will get
a quantity of them and make an ex-
animation.
The matter has been brought into
prominence by the death of Young
silva with every appearance of having
taken Virulent poison and who CON
fessed to having eaten the seeds of
about score of the green pods.
The physician who was called in
about IL o'clock in the morning, DR..
Camp, found the boy already growing
cold and beyond medical aid.
symptoms suggested arsenical or
some kindred poison and was marked
by continuous vomiting accompanied
with blood. Neither water nor medi-
cine could be kept on the stomach and
the suffering youngester was in terri
bic agony from the violent cramps that
were racking him.
The boy was absent from school
Monday having been feeling sick but
on Tuesday was running around in
lively fashion. Wednesday he ate the
seeds of the pods in the afternoon and
at midnight was taken with violent
cramps, dying in twelve hours. He was
about eleven years old.
The vital part of the story lies in
the fact that other children are in the
habit of eating the seeds of tbs, beans
although in nothing like the quantities
taken by the dead boy. Dr. Camp
after the death, appealed to Wray Tay-
lor to learn if the pods were consider
ed dangerous but neither the commits
sioner nor Professor Koebele had ever
heard of such a thing.
DIR. Shorey's analysis will probably
be concluded today and in the mean
time parents would be wise to caution
their children against the pods.
DR.. Shorey, who is Food Inspector
and analyst for the Board of Health
says that there are a number of plants
in Hawaii popularly known as poison
Gus, about which little or nothing is
known chemically. He wants to make
an investigation of the Ponciana bean
and a number of other plants, with
ents.
The Ponciana is said to be well
known as a quite deadly poison in the
South Sea Islands, where many cases
of deaths from eating the beans have
taken place. The symptoms are said
to be very much like those that follow
poisoning.
In Hawaii the bean does not appear
to be known as a poison, and 1t is
thought that it is not so dangerous
here as it is in the other Pacific Islands.
Hawaiian Islands are remarkably free
from poisonous plants and insects, and
the Ponciana here, if it is poison at
all, is thought to be much milder than
it is in other places.
The law provides that in cases where
any death is reported to the coroner,
to have taken place by pois-
oning, among other causes, that he snail
summon jurors to sit in inquest on the
body. In this case no such action was
taken, though the attending physicians
state that poisoning was the cause OF
death. The official records and certl-
ficates of file at the Board OF Health
give the cause of death as gastrltls.