On the moth of the esere, or ordeal-bean of Old Calabar.

  • Fraser, Sir Thomas Richard, 1841-1920.
Date:
1864
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the moth of the esere, or ordeal-bean of Old Calabar. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    L 0 %:) [From the Annals and Magazine of Natural History for May 1864.] ON THE MOTH OF THE ESERE, OR ORDEAL-BEAN OF OLD CALABAR. The Rev. John Baillie, of Old Calabar, recently presented me with a parcel containing about eighty seeds of Physo- stigma venenosum, which had been collected because of their showing indications of the attacks of an insect. In a paper on the Esere, or Ordeal-Bean of Calabar *, it is stated by me that “ the bean has been always received remarkably free from all disease,” only one form of slight and unimportant abnormality having been met with. It is therefore a source of gratification to me to have the first opportunity of modifying this expression. These beans had been collected upwards of three months be- fore they came into my possession. They were contained in a covering of thick soft paper, which was found to be riddled by numerous nearly circular holes, about the sixth of an inch in diameter; and it was evident that these perforations had been caused by an insect. On opening the parcel, the beans were found adhering together by means of an abundance of silky threads. They were easily disconnected, and, on separation, a 'number of caterpillars were seen (generally alive, though slug- gish in their movements), and a large quantity of what was evidently their excrement. The greater number of the cater- * “ On the Characters, Actions, and Therapeutic Uses of the Ordeal- Bean of Calabar,” in * Edinburgh Medical Journal,’ July, August, and September 1863.