the mallet, it has the right to take ground up to one mallet's length in any direction from the spot where it rested. If it run three arches under the same conditions, it can take ground up to two lengths of a mallet. [This rule must not be interpreted to conflict with VII.]

IX. Striking the turning stake is in all respects equivalent to making an arch, is subject to the same conditions, and entitled to the same advantages, when these are applicable; but the stake may be struck from any quarter.

X. A ball, after it has completed the round, makes the starting stake either by a blow from its owner's mallet, or by roquet, roquet-croquet, croquet, or concussion. It is then a dead ball, and is removed from the field.

XI. A ball roquets another, whether it proceeds directly by a blow of the mallet or rebounds upon it after the blow, from an arch, a stake, or any other fixed obstacle of the ground, or from another ball.

1. A ball having roqueted, another may strike it again without any intervening play; but the second contact does not constitute a roquet.

2. A ball having made roquet, is at liberty either to make croquet or to proceed on its round.

3. A ball striking another ball, after having croqueted it, and without any intervening play, terminates its tour.

XII. A ball can croquet only that ball on which it has made roquet. [Hence, a booby cannot croquet or be croqueted.]

1. A player may croquet any number of balls consecutively, but he can not croquet the same ball twice during the same turn, without first sending his own ball through the next arch in order.

2. In making ricochet, the player is at liberty to croquet either the first or all of the balls roqueted, but the order of croquet must be that of the ricochet.

3. A croquet is proved by the stirring of the ball croqueted, provided that the mallet has struck the ball croqueting.

4. If a ball roquet another, and at the same time makes its arch, it may proceed to croquet the roqueted ball, or decline and again roquet upon it before taking the croquet.

5. If a ball flinch in the execution of croquet, the croquet is null, the croqueted ball must be returned to its position, and the croqueting ball proceed with its turn, without the right to repeat the croquet just missed.

XIII. The laws of roquet-croquet are the same as those of croquet. XIV. A rover may not croquet the same ball twice in one turn.

A croquet or roquet-croquet alone permit the rover to continue his play. XV. If a ball in its progress over the ground be interrupted by any one, the person playing may allow it to remain where it rested after the interruption, or carry it to the point which he regards as its probable termination.

A ball accidentally displaced must be returned to the place where it was lying, before the play proceeds.

XVI. No play is permitted outside of the boundaries.

A ball driven over the boundary may be brought back to the point where it crossed, when its turn arrives.

XVII. An arch or stake losing its upright position, by any means, must be restored before the game proceeds.

VEGETABLE POISONS.

THE UPAS.

[PAS, which means "vegetable poison," is applied indiscriminately to several plants of the East Indies. Botanists have given the name to a member of the Loganiacea or strychnos family; but it properly belongs only to one of the Urticaceae, or nettles, the Antiaris toxicaria, or Upas antiar of Java and the neighboring islands, where the natives. call it Bohun upas. Perhaps no tree has been more falsely accused than this. The early Dutch travellers, who were for a long time the only authorities respecting the East, told the most fabulous stories of its fatal qualities. M. Foersch, who visited the Indies during the eighteenth century, reported that "sterility prevails for upwards of ten miles around this dreadful tree on the part of the island of Java where it grows. When criminals are sentenced to death, they are offered a free pardon if they consent to seek a small boxful of this valuable yet terrific poison. They are first sent to the dwelling of a priest, who resides at a safe distance from the spot; there they arrive, accompanied by their wailing and disconsolate families. They remain with this holy man a few days, during which he affords them both spiritual comfort and good advice-the latter urging the precantion not to set out until the wind blows in such a direction as to waft from them the floating emanations. On their departure on this dreaded expedition, he gives them a small box of silver or tortoise-shell, covers their heads and faces with a leathern hood with glass eyes, and protects their hands with a pair of thick gloves of the same material. He accompanies them about two miles on their sad journey, and then he describes the hellish spot where this treasure is to be found as minutely as one can describe what he has not seen; then, giving the poor pilgrims his blessing, he departs on his return. This worthy man informed our traveller that, during thirty years while he had held the situation, he had sent off no less than seven hundred criminals, of whom only twenty-two had returned; and he confirmed the statement by exhibiting a list bearing their names and the offenses for which they had been tried." Foersch also asserted that he

witnessed several of these expeditions, and entreated the culprits to bring him some branches of the tree; but two withered leaves were the only specimens he could obtain from the solitary wretch who had the good fortune to escape, and who described the tree as growing on the border of a rivulet, being of moderate height, and surrounded by a cluster of young ones. The ground around them was of a brown, sandy nature, and strewed with the remains of human victims. He also ascertained that no living creature can exist within fifteen miles of the spot. The streams that flow near it yield no fish, and the birds that fly over it fall to the ground; several of the latter were occasionally brought to the priest. Among various offenders doomed to death by this poison, he relates the case of thirteen ladies, who, for the crime of infidelity, were inoculated in the bosom with the point of a kritz, or Malayan dagger, dipped in the upas, and in sixteen minutes they had ceased to live.

Notwithstanding the circumstantial character of Foersch's account, it was wholly false. Nolte, a Dutch surgeon, afterwards visited Java, and ascertained that Foersch had never been on the island; so that his tale must have been based upon the extravagant statements of Cleyer, Spielman, and Rumphius, who had visited the East long before. Some French travellers found that the tree was common in the forests of Java and Borneo, and that the natives did not hesitate to approach it. When Dr. Horsfield desired to procure some of the poison, he found no difficulty in obtaining assistance from the natives, who objected to handling it only because they feared an annoying cutaneous eruption. In Borneo it is collected by hunters in the interior, who preserve it in leaves of the tree. From the researches of Horsfield and Leschenault it appears that the Upas antiar grows upwards of one hundred feet high, with cylindrical stem, naked for sixty or seventy feet. From an incision in the bark, near the ground, a bitter white or yellow juice exudes, which, when exposed to the air, concretes into a black resinous mass. This, when mixed with aromatics, forms the poison. The process of preparing it is known to but few, who pretend to much mystery. When prepared, the upas poison is of the consistency of molasses, and is preserved in closed bamboo tubes.

Among the Javanese the upas is employed only in the chase, and, like the curare of South America, it does not injure the flesh of game. The inhabitants of the adjoining islands, however, use it in warfare; and the early Dutch soldiers were compelled to wear thick leather cuirasses, stuffed with cotton, in defence against the poisoned missiles. The rapidity with which this agent acts is astounding. Dr. Horsfield asserts that it proves fatal to dogs in one hour, to cats in fifteen minutes, to monkeys in seven minutes, and a buffalo was dispatched in two hours. According to the experiments of M. Leschenault, who brought some of the poison to Europe, the effects depend greatly upon the age and size of the animal. One grain and one-half inoculated in a dog killed it in four minutes; one

half grain injected into the chest caused death in one minute and one-half; eight drops injected into the jugular of a horse produced immediate tetanus and instant death.

The upas does not contain strychnia, but Pelletier and Caventon extracted from it a new vegeto-alkali, in which the poisonous properties exist. After death no traces of the poison remain; the blood-vessels are filled with blackish blood, as after asphyxia. The action is evidently narcotic, death being preceded by absolute nervous prostration. There is, therefore, no positive antidote. The fibre of the upas-tree is excessively irritating, the virus appearing to pervade all parts; for linen made from the fibres, if not prepared with the utmost care, produces most unpleasant itching.

THE CURARE.

Among the Indians of South America several poisons are employed. The Ticronas is a mixture of several gums, but its precise composition is concealed, being regarded as a valuable secret. Its powers, like those of the upas, have been greatly exaggerated; one author having asserted that its odor is sufficient to kill criminals. Of the others, little, is positively known of any except the woorari or curare, whose properties have been fully investigated. This is obtained from the bark of a liana in Guiana, called by the natives Vejuco de Maracure, which appears to be identical with the Strychnos toxifera. The process by which it is separated is thus described by Humboldt :* "The branches are scraped with a knife, and the bark which comes off is bruised and reduced to very thin filaments. A cold infusion is prepared by pouring water on this fibrous mass, in a funnel made of a plantain-leaf rolled up in the form of a cone, and placed in another somewhat stronger, also made of plantain-leaves, the whole supported by a slight framework. A yellowish fluid filters through the apparatus. It is the venomous liquor; which, however, only acquires strength when concentrated by evaporation in a large earthen pot. To give it consistence, it is mixed with a glutinous vegetable juice obtained from a tree named kiracaguera. At the moment when this addition is made, the fluid now kept in a state of ebullition, the whole blackens and instantly coagulates into a substance resembling tar or thick syrup."

The properties of the curare have been carefully investigated by M. Claude Bernard. It does not produce local irritation; for if a bird be wounded by a small and pointed missile it is unconscious of injury. The effect is rather to paralyze the nerves of motion, without immediately affecting consciousness or sensation. Consciousness does not become extinct even with somatic death. A ligature was so tied on the hind legs of a frog as to cut off the arterial circulation without severing the communication between the nerves and spinal cord. A little poison was inserted under

"The Travels and Researches of Alex. Vou Humboldt," p. 234. Edinburgh, 1852.

the skin of the back, and the animal was put into a covered vessel containing water. The usual symptoms of paralysis ensued, but the hind legs still gave evidences of life; and when light was admitted to the vessel, the living legs propelled the lifeless body towards it. A stranger peculiarity is, that somatic death, resulting from administration of the curare, may continue for some time before interstitial death takes place. A young ass, ⚫ inoculated with the poison, fell apparently dead in ten minutes; the trachea was opened and artificial breathing was kept up for two hours, when the animal raised its head and looked around. It soon died a second time. Artificial respiration was resumed and sustained for two hours. The poor beast again awoke; its lungs gradually regained their power, and eventually the full use of its limbs was restored. This experiment was originally performed by Waterton and Brodie, and has since been repeated several times with full success.

Though so fearful a poison when introduced into the blood, the curare may be tasted without danger; it is employed by the natives as a remedy for gastric affections. Minute quantities taken into the stomach cause no ill effect, for the flesh of game slain by poisoned arrows is freely eaten, and fowls are usually killed by scratching them with some poisoned instrument. The action of the curare resembles that of the upas, but is not so rapid, and tetanic spasms are not produced. Both are powerful sedatives, and appear to produce death by asphyxia. Artificial respiration is therefore recommended by Bernard and Delile as the only means of restoration.

THE KOMBI AND UGA.

In Mozambique, near Lake Nyassa, as Dr. Livingstone informs us,* the natives kill wild animals with arrows or spears dipped in the kombi. This is obtained from a species of strophanthus, and yields a peculiar vegetoalkali resembling strychnia. Except the elephant and hippopotamus, every animal yields to the effect of the poisoned arrows. Like the substances already noted, this does not affect the flesh of game injuriously, only a small portion about the wound being unfitted for food. The same people employ in warfare another poison called the uga, which they procure from the entrails of a caterpillar. It is a most powerful virus, causing immediate delirium and speedy death.

ORDEAL POISONS.

From very ancient times there have existed among barbarous nations various methods of direct appeal to the Deity to acquit or convict suspected persons. Prominent among these is the ordeal of drinking poison. According to the old Jewish law, when a woman was accused of infidelity to her husband she was compelled to drink the "bitter waters." If gan

"Expedition to the Zambesi," p. 491. New York.