New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1907-04-24
ANIMALS AND POISON.
Some Species Are Immune to the
Most Deadly Drugs.
MYSTERY OF THE HEDGEHOG.
This BristIy Little Creature Can Make
Meal of Arsenic or Opium and
Wash 1t Down With Draft of
Prussic Acid Without Discomfort.

9OlSOu is surely one OF the most
weird of natures bizarre contrivances.
A tiny speck of an innocent looking
white powder on the tip Of the tongue
means instant death if that powder
happens to be the deadly drug aconi-
tine. A moments Whit of unseen va
por, and if that yapor rises from pure
The strangest fact about that curious
group Of bodies called poisons is that
sometimes they are not poisons. OF
course every one knows that when
kept under control by the skillful hand
Of the physician poisons are most val
liable medicines. But few persons are
aware of the still more curious fact
that poisons when taken by certain an
imals even in large quantities are quite
harmless.
Yet, strange as it may seem, this is
perfectly true. Take, for instance, the
hedgehog. This bristly little animal is
absolutely poison proof. It can eat
without discomfort as much opium as
a hardened Chinese can smoke in a
fortnight and can wash meal down
with as much prussic acid as would
kill regiment Of soldiers. It is ca
pable of swallowing arsenic with just
as much relish as it eats cockroaches.
snake, though the prickly hedgehog
has little need to fear the approach of
such reptile. It has even been stated
that it can swallow corrosive subli-
mate, and yet this is virulent poison
which human beings must handle with
caution, for even solution of it exter-
| nally applied has been known to cause
| death.
Cyanide of potassium is another
| deadly substance Of which the hedge
hog need have no fear, and yet the
merest trace of the poison is sufficient
| to cause full grown man to foam at
the mouth and lose the power of his
limbs. Truly the hedgehog is strange
freak, and yet not SO inexplicable as
the poisons by which he refuses to be
| poisoned.
Man is said to resemble the monkey
in more ways than one; but, whatever
characteristics they may have in com
mon, the ape differs from the human
being in this respect-he can take with
impunity as much strychnine as would
kill two men instantly. The monkey
curiously enough, shares the immunity
to strychnine poisoning with inverte
brate animals. Another phenomenon is
/ the rat The number Of rat poisons
sold by druggists is legion, but there i:
one poison which never enters into
their composition-namely, digitalin
the active principle Of the foxglove
One-half grain of this poisonous prin
ciple suffices to kill a man within three
quarters of an hour, but the rat abso
lutely refuses to let it kill him.
When it is discovered that human
being has swallowed oxalic acid, thu
first thing the doctor does is to give hi
unfortunate patient good dose o.
chalk, technically known as calcium
carbonate. Strange to relate, chicken
are not poisoned by oxalic acid, for tn
simple reason that their intestines con
tain the antidote in the form of guam
titles Of calcium, which combine witt
the poison and render it quite harm
less. It is interesting, however, t
mention that if oxalic acid is injecte'
into the blood of a fowl it would b
poisoned. It is only when given by tn
mouth that the acid comes in contac
with the antidote. However, as chick
ems are not provided with hypOdermi
syringes, they are not likely to run an
danger
If China were inhabited by pigeon
instead of by people who speak pigeo'
English costly war and no end o
controversy might have been averteC
for pigeons are not demoralized b.
opium You cannot put a pigeon t
sleep with the ''drowsy giant, simpl
because there is something in the bird
interior which resists the narcotic il
fluence Of the morphine to whic
opium owes it's activity.
There is little to connect the Russia
peasant with a goat-unless it is bear
yet nevertheless both have one ira
in common--neither is harmed by hen
lock. 1t was the juice Of the hemlocl
so we have been told until we are tire
Of hearing it, that killed Socrates. Eve
since then it has been on the poison liz
! as far as civilized beings are concer1
t ed; but, all the same, roots Of hemloc
IRE eaten as food by the Russian pea
q hnts-and by goats
/ In one respect the peasant OF Il
s Austrian Tyrol resembles the hedg
hog, because he can take in one do'
rs much arsenic as would kill sever
Americans This is not because tt
peasant is provided with any speci
y means of combating the effects Of tt
tt drug, but because he habituates hi1
u self to it. The Tyrolean finds that
r senic increases his power Of enduranc
L He commences by taking an eigh
L part of grain for a dose, which
t gradually increased until he can ta
IS / without any i'll effect FIVE or mo