Show THE POISON strychnine this drug which has lately become so notorious for destroying stroby ying the lives of human beings as in the cafa cage 0 of t the he infamous dr palmer recently executed in england is a most deadly organic poison A A dog has been killed with the sixth part art of a grain of it and a human beirl being with less when introduced into the stomach it acts with fearly energy causing lockjaw immediately violent spasms and death in a few minutes it is odorless but so intensely bitter as to be perceptible to the taste when one part is diluted in a million parts of water the composition of is carbon 44 hydrogen 24 oxygen 4 nitrogen 2 equivalents it is colorless ana and forms soluble soluble salts it is an alkaline base and is extracted thi principally from the the e tree from which it is obtained is of moderate size and grows in several parts of the east indies and island of ceylon its fruit are lar large I 1 e orange colored berries the pulp of which is t the ie favorite of many birds the seeds contain the deadly poison they are flat and round about an ati inch in diameter and gray in color takesi these seeds were used as a medicine and as a poison by the Ilin Hin doos longbey long iong before or e they were known in in europe many of the natives of hindostan hindustan Hind often use it as people use opium thy they commence with taking an eighth eight h of a nut a a day y and bradu gradually ally aily increase their allowance to an entire nut which would be about twenty grains if they eat it directly before or after food no unpleasant effects are produced but it if they neglect this precaution spasms are the result the bark of the tree is also poisonous an and from its resemblance to angostura angustura Augu stura or culik Cusp bli aji bark a tonic me medicine ile lie ine lne impo imported rt e d fram guth 4 america caused a great deal deai of alarm and excitement in Ger Germany manyin inthe the early part of this century by being mix mixed edwith with that bark no sare sure antidote has yet been discovered for this poison but some chemists have attained to great skill in detecting it when administered asa as a poison the following ildr is dr thompsons Thomp sons method of detecting 0 the one thousandth part of a grain having 0 placed a drop of stron strong q sulphuric acid on a piece of glass add to it a small quantity of the suspected substance and stir the whole together so as to favor solution then sprinkle over the mixture a little powdered of potash and gently move a glass rod through the fluid if be present a violet color of considerable beauty will be almost immediately imme immediately diatel produced which after a few minutes wirt will fade into a reddish yellow but may be renewed by the addition of more so long as an any y remains reaia reala ins undestroyed in the mix mixture in this way the thousandth part of a grain grain of that alkaloid may be made to yield a very d decisive acis ive lve indication the points to be noticed are that sulphuric acid alone produces no apparent effect and that the action begins at once round each particle of the so that if the glass be held in a vertical it position streams of a violet colored fluid may be seen to flow from each particle and if at this time the whole be slowly stirred the entire bulk of the fluid will speedily assume the same characteristic act tint |