The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-05-19
ANIMALS HARD
 TO POISON
LIVELY LITTLE HEDGEHOG CAN EAT
 OPIUM WITHOUT ILL EFFECS.
Monkeys Can Safely Take Enough Strychnine to Kill Two Men. Some Races Accustomed to Virulent Drugs Become Immune to
 Them.

Baltimore Sun.
 Poison 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. 4 moments whiff of unseen vapor, and if that vapor rises from pure prus- sic acid all human aid Is to late. The strangeSt fact about that curious group of the bodies called poisons is that sometimes they are not poisons. Of course, every one knows that when kept under control by the skillful hands of the physician. poisons are most valu- able medicines. But few persons are aware of the still more curious facts that poisons. when taken by certain ami mals even in large quantities, are quite harmless.
 Yet, strange as 1t may seem, this is perfectly true. Take. for instance. the hedgehog The bristly little animal Is absolutely poisonproof. It ~1n eat with out discomfort as much opium as hardened Chinese can smoke in a fort night and can wash a meal down with as much prussic acid as would kill regiment of soldiers.
 Animals Strangely Immune.
 It is capable of swallowing arsenic with just as much relish as it eats cock IOdtIltS. u IS qullS lIHUnun6 lO Iil0 Nc- mon of the snake, though the prickly hedgehog has little need to fear the approach of such reptiles. It has even been stated that 1t can swallow corro- sive sublimate and yet this is virulent poison. which human beings must han dle with caution, for even a solution of it externally applied has been known to cause death.
 Cyanide of potassium is another dead 1V Of which fEa he6RahOR need have no fear. and yet the merest traces of the poison is sufficient to cause a full-grown man to foam at the mouth and lose the power of his limbs. Truly, the hedgehog Is strange freak and yet not 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 be- ing i'll this respectable can take with impunity Us much strychnine as would kill twJ men instantly. The monkey, curiously enough shares the immunity to strychnine poisoning with inverte- brate animals.
 Rn;s and Fowls Unhnrmed.
 ALoLher phenomenon is the rat he number ot rat poisons sold by druggists is legion, but there Is one poison which never cnrers into their composition namely, dieitalin, the active principle O. the foxElove One-half grain of this poisonous principle suftices to kill a man within three-quarters of an hour but the rat absolutely refuses to let it kill him.
 When .t is discovered that a human being has swallowed oxalic acid the nrst thing the doctor does.is to give his unfortunate patient q good dose of chalk. technically known as calcium
 
 a re not poisoned by oxalic acid, for the simple reacon that their intestines con tain the antidote in the form of quan- t.ties of calcium. which combines with the poison and render it quite harmless It is interesting, however, to mention that if oxalic acid is injected into the blood of a fowl it would be poisoned; it is only when given by the mouth that the acid comes in contact with the AntidntA- Hnwavar. chickens are nat