Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1907-05-30
Animals and Poison.

Animals and POISON.
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. A moments Whit Of unseen va
por, and if that vapor rises from pure
prussic acid all human aid is too late
The strangest fact about that curious
group OF bodies called poison Is that
sometimes they are not polsons. Vi
course everv 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 tect
that poisons when taken by certain an
finals even in large quantities are quite
harmless.
Yet, strange as it may seem, this ia
perfectly true. Take. for instance,
the hedgehog. This briStly little ami
NAL is absolutely poison proof. 1t can
eat without discomfort as much opium
as hardened Chinese can smoke in
fortnight and can wash meal down
with as much prussic acid as would
kill regiment of soldiers 1t is ca
pable of swallowing arsenic with just
as much relish dc it eats cockroaches.
1t is quite immune to the venom of the
snake, though the prickly hedgehog
has little need TO fear the approach of
such reptile. 1t has even been stated
that it can swallow corrosive suoll-
mate, and yet this is a virulent poison
which human beings must handle with
caution, for even a solution of 1t 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 ia sufi cient
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 inexpli-
cable as the poisons by which he re-
fuses 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 respsct-he can take
with impunity as much strychuine as
would kill two men instantly. The
monkey, curiously enough, shares the
immunity to strychnine poisoning
with invertebrate animals. Another
phenomenon ia the rat. The number
of rat poisons sold by druggists is
legion, but there is one poison which
never enters into their composition
namely, digitalin, the active princi.
pie of the foxglove. One-half grain
of this poisonous principle suffices to
kill man within three quarters OF an
hour, but the rat absolutely refuses
to let it kill him.
When it is discovered that human
being has swallowed oxalic acid, the
first thing the doctor does is to give
his unfortunate patient good dose of
chalk, technically known as calcium
carbonate. Strange to relate, chick
ems are not poisoned by oxalic acid,
for the simple reason that their intes-
tines contain the antidote in the form
of quantities of calcium. which COM
bine with the poison and render it
quite harmless. 1t is interesting,
however, to mention that if oxalic
acid is injected into the blood of a
fowl it would be poisoned. tits only
when given BY the mouth that the
acid comes in contact with the anti
dote. However, as chickens are not
provided with hypodermic syringes,
they are not likely to run any danger.
If China were inhabited by pigeons
instead of by people who speak pigeon
English, costly war and no end OF
controversy might have have been
averied, for pigeons are not demon
allied by opium. You cannot put a
pigeon to sleep with the "drowsy
giant" simply because there is some
thing in the birds interior which re-
sists the narcotic influence OF the NOR.
phins to which opium owes its activi-
ty.
There is little to connect the Rus
sian peasant with goat-unless it is
beard-yet nevertheless both have
one trait in common-neither is
harmed by hemlock. 1t was the juice
of the hemlock. 40 wa have been told