It would be unsafe to eat an animal killed with
strychnine, on account of the deadliness of the poison.
The Swedes put fulminating-powder in a raw shankbone, and throw it down
to the wolves; when one of these gnaws and crunches it, it blows his head
to atoms.
Poisoned Bullets.--I take the following extract from 'Galignani's
Messenger:'--"A new method of catching whales is now being tried with
considerable success, science having contributed to its discovery. Our
readers are well aware of the deadly effects of the Indian poison called
wurare, or woorali, concerning which we have often had occasion to record
the most interesting experiments, especially in mentioning the attempts
made to use it as a specific for lockjaw, its peculiar action consisting
in relaxing the muscular system. Strychnine is a poison producing the
contrary effect, the excessive contraction of that system, or, in other
words, tetanus, or lockjaw. It is a curious fact that by the conjunction
of these two agents, so diametrically opposite in their effects, a poison
is obtained that will kill almost instantly if only administered in the
dose of half a milligramme per kilogramme of the animal to be subjected
to its action, provided its weight do not exceed ten kilogrammes. If
larger, the dose must be proportionally increased. M. Thiercelin, the
inventor of this poison, composes it by mixing a salt of strychnine with
one-twentieth of woorali.
Pages:
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375