The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-04-21


 geration to say that, harmless as the poison is in all but rare nd exceptional cases, it is as generally feared as the rattlesnake. and dissuades more people from an intimate acquaintance with na- ture, with the annual recreation which is worth more to the body than a col lege of doctors or the entire pharmaco- poeia. Mny who suppress these fears to the extent of taking their weekly or yearly outing, look with suspicion upon every green twig they see, outside of cultivated grounds or orchards, and never dare to stray far from civiliza- tion's modifying influences. Vanity is a master, passion. The comedy will not risk so much as the temporary destruc- tion of their beauty, and the ugly or commonplace feature dread that which N1ay make them repulsive of aspect. These are thea dominating dreads, wholly apart from the queer torture of the poisoning itself, which is something to be reckoned with.
 Petty as this subject may seem at first, it reaches momentous proportions when viewed in all it's bearings. If we could look forward to the extermination
 of the enemy we might afford to regard 1t lightly, as a mere passing annoyance.
 But the poison oak we shall always have with us. It is jaunty and per- sistent grower, sprouting up unasked in 1 the most unexpected places, and luxu-
 riating wherever there is unoccupied
 soil suited to it's subsistence. It riots | in Golden Gate Park It waxes big and ] lusty on the bluffs commanding the l finest view of the sea. It grows uncon-
 cernedly in vacant city lots through
 which childrei wear paths on their way 4 to schools. It runs riot on cultivated
 farms, in stretches of forest. It is a good mountaineer and ahead of the Si-
 erra club in exploring the fastnesses of
 the great range from which it has bor-
 rowed its name. That pretty green
 shoot which thrust itself through the crack in your porch floor yesterday and ] which you so admired, my dear madam, is a vigorous specimen of the shrub,
 and your baby may pluck off it's tender
 leaves tomorrow without let or him
 drance, for it is a singular fact that few
 children native to the locality where the
 poison plant has it's habitat ever suffer
 from familiarity with it. You may try
 to stamp it out, but your efforts will be
 vain. Some twenty years ago a certain
 brilliant lawyer, whose home at Menlc
 Park has entertained many famous peo-
 pie, including two Presidents of the
 United States, determined to eradicate
 the plant from his hundred-acre
 grounds. For an entire year he kepl
 six men literally on guard, digging III
 every bush and vine on the place, fol
 lowing up and removing every vestigt
 of the roots, and bouncing upon every fresh shoot that made it's appearance
 At the end of the year they rested upor
 their labors and awaited results, ant that year the poison oak fiourlshed upor
 the estate as never before, encouraged
 and strengthened by the thorough cul.
 ture 1t received.
 It is therefore apparent that we mus
 look the poison oak squarely in thu Iface, and if this is done it becomes blair Istht the plant is by no means the buga Iboo it is accredited with being. No poi.
 son oak statistics seem to have beer
 compiled as yet, but any observant per } son may, with 0 little reflection, deter l mine that but an infnitesimal percent. ; fage of the people exposed to it are evel
 seriously affected. Experience and ob servation also conclusively prove tt those who are most susceptible to tn, $ poison, who even take" it, as in somt extraordinary cases, by merely brush , ing against the garments of others wht ! have come in contact with the shrub those unfortunate individuals who's, , heads swell to a monstrous size anC , whose eyelids puff up until they close z may become entirely immune from tn, poison by living in the close neighbor hood of the shrub and going freely pas Z it. It has already been remarked tha } the native-born are rarely sensitive t, the poison, and it seems certain tha 3 any well-rooted native race will be i'm 7 mune, as witness the Spanish Califor
 nians and the Indians, who laugh at tn ) susceptibility of later-comers. Then } too the peculiar affection of the ski l caused by the poison almost invariabl, 5 yields readily to simple treatment g There are several efficient remedies t. g be procured from druggists, but the at l tack may usually be checked in its frs : stages by the application of hot wate l in which common salt, or salt and ma s drono ashes have been dissolved. Thos 1 liable to poisoning will find that the, . will escape frequently by wearin : gloves when going through chaparral 0 . over old fields where the poison oa' f abounds. It is also well to be doubl : cautious when in precipitation.
 s It should be borne in mind that tn d poison oak is not peculiar to California f It is identical with the poison ivy of tn . eastern states, and it's effect upon it O luckless victims is identical. There ar h those who have foresworn the easter f woods on account of this pest but tn y glory of California woods and hills, UT e der the California sky, makes such re a nunciation a thing impossible her F The slight risk of a short season of dis e comfort and disagreement is a sn1a
 price to pay. after all for close as y quaintancs with nature in her most CT F trancing aspect and for the invigors n tion that attends upon life out (