The museum report : a descriptive list of the donations for the years 1895-1902.

  • Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain
Date:
1903
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The museum report : a descriptive list of the donations for the years 1895-1902. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

    69/80 (page 59)
    from which the following is an abstract. According to Mr. J. J. Quelch, by whom the specimens presented to the ]\Iuseum wero collected, there is no fixed uniform or prescription used among the native people as a body. The excellence of the poison is regarded as especially dependent on the professional observances to be gone through during the time of its preimration. Mr. Quelch gives two recipes for the poison, one .made at Waipokau, containing ^'. to.yifera, S. co[icnx, and two poisonous trees, called respectively^ Tung and Kenaima-Inda Kurapichi, which are apparently un- described; Muramu, a yam-like climber with irregular bulbous roots; and Ekoi-Aipa, a cactus. The two latter are innocuous but are used as mucilaginous bases. The second i-ecipe, used, at the Urali Mountains, contains the bark of N. toxifera, S.Sch<niilniriiI,-ii,Arii\i\\a, {S. U iiblt ri f), Eoraibong (SJiirtiiita)^ the bitter and poisonous root Eatsha, and the very poisonous bark of a large tree called Komatana, with the mucilaginous plants Muramu and Rkoi-apa. The bitter and poisonous leaves of another N^r/yr/j^os, called by the Makushis Waiamuri- prakung, are also stated to be used. In all the recipes^ S. to.vif ra appears to be the chief ingredient, and is used largely in excess of the others. According to Planchon, the curare of Venezuela, usually imported in small gourds [I'liarw. Jonrn. [8], X., 322), is chiefly derived from Stri/clntos (jiibleri, G. Planch. The other plants used have not been identified {I'hanji. Jmini. [8], XI., 581-592). The curare is prepared in the neighbourhood of the Orinoco, from the Cassiquiare affluent to the falls of the Atiire, by the Maquiritares, Piaroas, and other Indian tribes. The curare of Northern Brazil is prepared by the Peba and Ticuna Indians,, east of the confluence of the rivers Negro and Madeira, from Stnjch7i<)s <.'astfburana ; other poisonous plants used are ( 'occuliifi toxicdfcriis, W('(i<l. and IHe-ffhibaclna Sef/ainc, Schott. Three species of riper, an Ari.^toloc/iia and Petireria aUiacea are also used. In the basin of the Yapuca Eiver, the Indians use -S'. YapHccnsis, G. Planch, as well as N. Casitehurana \ a species of Spigelia and an aroid are also used (Pharvi. Jouni. [8], XL,. 589-592). In French Guiana, the curare is prepared from S. Crecauxii, G. Planch, in the upper districts of the Yari and Parou rivers, the accessory plants being four species of pepper, one referred to Pijxr Icbtum, C. D.C., another (Pot peu) to P. HnatmannianuDi, C.D.C.,and the others, named alimi6re and Aracoupani, are not yet identified, {Phnrni. Jouru. [8], XI., p. 695). Derris elliptica. The root of this legummous plant has long been used by the Malays as a fish poison under the name of Tuba root. Mr. Oxley, in the Journal of the K.I. Archipelago, 1848, p. GKJ, refers