264 ADDITIONAL NOTES.

mum Zerumbet is mixed with a little water, and a bit of the poiſonous gum or reſin is dropped into it; an effer- veſcence inſtantly takes place, by the violence of which they judge of the ſtrength of the poiſon.=-What air can be extricated during this efferveſcence?--This experi- ment is ſaid to be dangerous to the operator.

As the juice is capable of being diflolved in arrack, and is thence ſuppoſed to be principally of a reſinous nature, the Profeſſor does not credit that fountains have been poiſoned with it.

This poiſon has been employed as a puniſhment for ca- pital crimes in Macaſier and other iſlands; in thoſe caſes ſome experiments have been made, and when a finger only had been wounded with a dart, the immediate amputation of it did not ſave the criminal from death.

The poiſon from what has been termed the female tree, is leſs deleterious than the other, and has been uſed chiefly in hunting; the carcaſes of animals thus deſtroyed are eaten with impunity. The poifon-juice is ſaid to be uſed externally as a remedy againſt other poiſons, in the form of a plaſter; alſo to be uſed internally for the ſame pur- poſe; and is believed to alleviate the pain, and extract the poiſon of venomous inſeÜs ſooner than any other appli- cation.|

The author concludes that theſe accounts have been