551]

Account of the Oopas.

[552

The first 17 experiments were made with the antshar; the rapidity of its effect depends, in a great degree, on the size of the vessels wounded, and on the quantity of poison carried into the circulation.

evening, in the usual manner, and pre- sons on the animal system is essentially served in the joint of a bamboo, was different. carefully strained into a bowl. The sap of the following substances, which had been finely grated and bruised, was carefully pressed and poured into it, viz.Arum, Nampoo, (Javanese,) Kaemferia, Galanga, Kontshur, Amomum, Bengley, (a variety of zerumbed,) common onion and garlic, of each about half a drachm; the same quantity of finely powdered black pepper was then added, and the mixture stirred.

In the first experiment, it induced death in 26 minutes,in the second, in 13 minutes. The poison from different parts of the island has been found nearly equal in activity.

The preparer now took an entire fruit The common train of symptoms is, a of the capsicum fruticosum or Guinea trembling and shivering of the extremipepper, and, having opened it, he care- ties, restlessness, discharges from the fully separated a single seed, and placed bowels, drooping and faintness, slight it on the fluid in the middle of the bowl. spasms and convulsions, hasty breathing,

The effects are nearly the same on

The seed immediately began to reel an increased flow of saliva, spasmodic round rapidly, now forming a regular contractions of the pectoral and abcircle, then darting towards the margin of dominal muscles, retching, vomiting, exthe cup, with a perceptible commotion cremental vomiting, frothy vomiting, on the surface of the liquor, which con- great agony, laborious breathing, viotinued about one minute. Being com- leat and repeated convulsions, death. pletely at rest, the same quantity of pepper was again added, and another seed of quadrupeds, in whatever part of the the capsicum laid on as before; a similar body the wound is made. It sometimes commotion took place in the fluid, but acts with so much force, that not all the in a less degree, and the seed was car- symptoms enumerated are observed. ried round with diminished rapidity. The oopas appears to affect different The addition of the same quantity of quadrupeds with nearly equal force, propepper was repeated a third time, when portionate, in some degree, to their size a seed of the capsicum being carefully and disposition. To dogs it proved placed in the centre of the fluid, remained mortal, in most experiments, within an quiet, forming a regular circle about it- hour. A mouse died in ten minutes; a self, in the fluid, resembling the halo of monkey in seven minutes; a cat in fifteen the moon. This is considered as a sign minutes. that the preparation of the poison is A buffalo, one of the largest quadrucomplete. peds of the island, died in two hours and The tshettik is prepared by separating ten minutes, though the quantity of poithe bark of the root, and boiling it, and son introduced in this experiment was after separating the bark from the water, proportioned to that which was thrown exposing the extract to the fire till it is into the system in the experiments on about the consistence of sirup. After smaller animals. this, the preparation is the same as of the antshar.

If the simple or unprepared sap is mixed with the extract of tobacco or stramonium (instead of the spices mentioned in the account of the preparation,) it is rendered equally, perhaps more, active.

An account of 26 experiments is detailed by Dr. Horsfield, on which he remarks, that he has selected from a large number of experiments, those only which are particularly demonstrative of the ef- Even the pure juice, unmixed and fects of the antshar and of the tshettik, unprepared, appears to act with a force when introduced into the circulation. equal to that which has undergone The poison was always applied by a the preparative process, according to pointed dart or arrow, made of bamboo. the manner of the Javanese at BlamThe operation of the two different poi- bangan.

553]

Account of the Oopas.

[554

Birds are very differently affected by fect which a wound produces; but the this poison. Fowls have a peculiar ca- stomachs of fowis resist its operation. pacity to resist its effects. A fowl died The poison of the antshar does by no 24 hours after the wound; others have means act so violently on quadrupeds as recovered after being partially affected. that of the tshettik. Dr. H. observes In regard to the experiments made with he gave it to a dog; it produced at first the poison prepared from tshettik, its nearly the same symptoms as a puncoperation is far more violent and rapid ture; oppression of the head, twitchings, than that of the antshar, and it affects the faintness, laborious respiration, violent animal system in a different manner; contraction of the pectoral and abdowhile the antshar operates chiefly on the minal muscles, an increased flow of stomach, and alimentary canal, the re- saliva, vomiting, great restlessness and spiration and circulation, the tshettik is agony, &c. which continued nearly two determined to the brain and nervous hours; but, after the complete evacuation system.* of the stomach by vomiting, the animal

A relative comparison of the appear- gradually recovered. ances on dissection, demonstrates, in a Rumphius asserts, that a small quanstriking manner, the peculiar operation tity may be taken internally as a mediof each.

After the previous symptoms of faintness, drowsiness, and slight convulsions, it acts by a sudden impulse, which, like a violent apoplexy, prostrates at once the whole nervous system.

cine.

In animals killed by the antshar, the large vessels in the thorax, aörta and vena cava, were, in every instance, found in an excessive degree of distension: the viscera in the vicinity of the In the two experiments, this sudden source of circulation, especially the effect took place in the sixth minute lungs, were uniformly filled in a preterafter the wound; and in another, on the seventh minute, the animals suddenly started, fell down head foremost, and continued in convulsions till death ensued.

This poison affects fowls in a much more violent manner than that of the antshar, death having frequently occurred within the space of a minute after the puncture with a poisoned dart.

The simple unmixed decoction of the bark of the root of the tshettik is nearly as active as the posion prepared according to the process above related.

The resinous portion of the bark is by no means so active as the particles soluble in water.

Taken into the stomach of quadrupeds, the tshettik likewise acts as a most violent poison, but it requires about twice the period to produce the same ef

natural degree with blood, which in this viscus, and in the aorta, still retained a florid colour, and was completely oxygenated. On puncturing these vessels, it bounded out with the elasticity and spring of life. The vessels of the liver, of the stomach, and intestines, and of the viscera of the abdomen in general, were also more than naturally distended, but not in the same degree as those of the breast. In the cavity of the abdomen, a small quantity of serum was sometimes effused.

The stomach was always distended with air, and in those instances in which the action of the poison was gradual, and in which vomiting supervened in the course of the symptoms, its internal coat was covered with froth.

The brain indicated less of the action of the poison, than the viscera of the thorax and abdomen. In some instances Mr. Brodie, in a paper on vegetable it was perfectly natural-in others, marks poisons, (Phil. Trans. I8I1,) has given an account of some experiments made by him, of a small degree of inflammation were with the upas antiar, from Java, furnished by discovered.

Mr. Marsden, from which it appears, that,

when inserted in a wound, it produces death,

An undulatory motion of the skin, and

(as infusion of tobacco dogs, when injected of the divided muscles, was very evident into the intestines,) by rendering the heart in some of the dissected animals. insensible to the stimulus of the blood, and

stopping the circulation.

P Lon. Mag. Vol. I

The appearances observed in the ani

mals destroyed by the tshettik were

555}

Mr. Neele on the English Poets.

1356

very different. In a number of dissec- Macassar, they are said to have finally tions, the viscera of the thorax and ab- discovered an almost infallible remedy domen were found nearly in a natural in the root of the Crinum asiaticum, state, and the large vessels of the thorax (called by Rumphius, radix toxicaria,) exhibited that condition in which they which, if timely applied, counteracted, are usually found after death from other by its violent emetic effect, the force of poisons. the oopas.

But the brain and the dura mater An intelligent Javanese informed Dr. shewed marks of a most violent and ex- Horsfield, that an inhabitant was woun cessive affection. In some instances the ded in a clandestine manner, by an arrow inflammation and redness of the dura thrown from a blow pipe, in the fore mater was so strong, that on fisrt inspec- arm, near the articulation of the elbow. tion, Dr. H. supposed it to be the conse- In about fifteen minutes he became quence of a blow previously received, drowsy, after which he was seized with until he found, by repeated examina- vomiting, became delirious, and in less tions, that this is a universal appearance than half an hour he died. after death from tshettik.

Rumphius had an opportunity of personally observing the effect of the poisoned darts or arrows on the human system, as they were used by the natives of Macassar, in their attack on Amboina, about the year 1650.

Speaking of their operation, he says, the poison, touching the warm blood, is instantly carried through the whole body, so that it may be felt in all veins, and causes an excessive burning, and violent turning in the head, which is followed by fainting and death.

After having proved mortal to many of the Dutch soldiers in Amboina and

The intelligent reader will not fail to remark the extraordinary resemblance, as well in regard to the plant itself, which yields the second of the poisons here described, as to its preparation and use, subsisting between the tshettik and the courali of the Indians of Guiana, a curious account of which was given in our 35th No. [Ath. p. 339.] The existence of a practice so similar in two such distant quarters may afford a subject for interesting speculation to those who are fond of investigating the origin of the different nations scattered over the surface of the globe.

POETICAL CHARACTER OF AKENSIDE, THOMSON, & c.

From the Monthly Magazine.

"THE HE Pleasures of Imagination," tures in general vague and indistinct. although disfigured by verbosity, But the praise due to the author of "the and written in a style abundantly too Pleasures of Imagination." is on account ornate, is a poem which cannot fail of of the beauty, justness, and sometimes being perused with pleasure. In de- sublimity, of his sentiments: the exalted scription, AKENSIDE is not happy: he spirit of independence which breathes labours to supply, by an elaborate accu- throughout his writings; and the ease mulation of splendid epithets and gor- and elegance with which he clothes mogeous sentences, that freshness and rich- ral precepts in the most flowing and ness of landscape which is to be seen no- harmonious versification. where but in Nature, and in the produc- THOMSON is an author whose merits tions of those artists by whom Nature and defects have not been very accuhas been most closely copied. The rately balanced-for, while some have superior effect of unsophisticated sim- exalted him to the right hand of Milton, plicity in description has been triumph- others have placed him among the herd antly shewn in our own times by the of imitators. Truth, in this instance, as Poet of Cumberland." Neither in ab- in so many others, lies between the exstract imagery is Akenside successful: tremes ;-in style he is an imitator, and his metaphors are confused, and his pic- a bad imitator, of Milton; but he has

557] Poetical Character of Akenside, Thomson, Young, and Cowper.

[558

nothing else in common with him. His in gloom-it is his residence, his eledescriptions are pictures of Nature, ment; when he quits it, and attempts most accurately and strongly drawn, more cheerful and engaging pictures, but they want the glow of imagination, he fails. This forms his most striking which should raise them to a level with dissimilarity from Milton, with whom their prototypes. Nature, however faith he has sometimes been compared; he fully copied, is not all we expect from may occasionally approach him in the the poet, for the copies will always want terrible and the gloomy, but the poet of innumerable graces, which are to be Paradise Lost knew every chord in the found in the original; these it is the bu- instrument, and could touch them all siness of the poet to supply from the with a master's hand. Young when he abundant sources of imagination. Thom- would be tender is turgid, when he son saw the beauties of Nature, but he would be gentle is insipid. Those parts did not feel their invisible and undefina- of his Night Thoughts which are purely ble associations. When Shakspeare didactic have been much praised, and, paints Nature, every hill and every glen perhaps, beyond their merit; for in too swarms with spirits; if he looks into a many instances the matter is commoncowslip-bell, he discovers the "delicate place, and the style declamatory. Ariel" nestling there; the hills on which The "Task of Cowper" is the finest his eye is feasting are "heaven-kissing didactic poem in our language;-simhills;" and even the very air which he plicity of style, energy of sentiment, and breathes "smells wooingly." So, too, richness of imagination, are the rare chawhen Milton points out to us the beauties of Nature, we perceive that "millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth;" we hear voices "sole or responsive each to other's note," and the moon appears as

"One who had been led astray

Thro' the heaven's wide pathless way." It is such "fine frenzies" as these which charm us in the poetry of Shakspeare, and Milton, and Wordsworth; and the want of which is the great defect of Thomson. He pleases the reader, but does not astonish him; he sports on the surface of Nature, but never plunges into her mysteries; his pictures are accurate, they are beautiful, they form a brilliant and gorgeous temple, but they want the presence of the inspiring Deity which alone can hallow and consecrate the fane.

"Oh

racteristics of this original production. His satire is of the most caustic kind; it stops not at the little follies and imperfections which flutter over life, and darken the surface, but cuts deep into the root of vice, and hunts after her in the inmost recesses of the heart. His domestic pictures are enchanting; they sparkle with the vivid and unfading colourings of Nature; they have the ease and familiarity of Horace, without his grossness. The Roman bard is seldom without his bottle or his mistress; Cowper is surrounded by the endearments of friendship, and the feast of intellect. Another characteristic, which must not be passed over, is his honest and manly indignation at that pernicious system which has caused so much of the misery which has afflicted the world. The following lines furnish a lesson which should never be forgotten-

"War's a game which, were their subjects wise, Kings would not play at. Nations would do

well

YOUNG is the sublimest of poets since Milton: he astonishes principally by the grandeur and gloom of his abstract imagery. The passage beginning, treacherous conscience while she seems To extort their truncheons from the puny grasp to sleep," is too trite for quotation; but Of heroes, whose infirm and baby minds I know of nothing which surpasses it, Are gratified with mischief, and who spoil, except that fine poetical exclamation of Because men suffer them, their toy, the world. Shakspeare's Richard II. "Within the HENRY NEEle. hollow crown that rounds the mortal temples of a king," &c. Young moves

Kentish-Town, April 4, 1817.

UNSUCCESSFUL MACHINATIONS;

OR, THE CASTLE of Dunanachy.*

An interesting Tale of other Times.

[560

"As fies the inconstant sun over Larmon's grassy hill, so pass the tales of old along my soul by night. It is the voice of years that are gone: they roll before me with all their deeds."

OSSTAN.

T WICE had he visited Dunanachy, mind, like the red path of the lightning and for the second time repaired on a stormy cloud. O my mother, dear again to England, when," in some few are you still to my recollection; dear weeks after his departure, intelligence you will ever be to the bosom of your reached the inhabitants of the castle, that Malvina; the memory of your virtues the Earl had espoused the daughter of steals across my soul like the opening an English nobleman, with whom, and beams of the morning, like the memory a numerous party of their acquaintance of joys that are past, pleasant and mournand relations, it was their intention to ful; they dwell within my heart like visit Scotland; and for that purpose the gale of the spring, that sighs in the orders were issued, and workmen in- hunter's ear, when he wakes from dreams stantly employed, to put the castle and of joy, and has heard the music of the its environs in the highest possible state spirits of the hill." of repair, to new furnish such apartments Surprise, not pleasure, dwelt upon the as were intended for the use of the new features of Mrs. Douglas, when informCountess, and to remove from sight every ed of Lord Dunanachy's esponsal of article which had belonged to her pre- the Lady Gertrude Davenport. She had decessor, or been in use in the suite of long perceived his indifference towards rooms, she usually occupied at Dunana- Malvina; she had trembled for ber hapchy. In a word, all was bustle, hurry, piness and for her interest, and had sufexpectation, and anticipated pleasure on fered much apprehension. Now she the part of the domestics, while the feel- experienced a thousand fears for both. ings of Malvina were various, and such Personally she knew not Lady Gertrude, as might naturally be expected to arise in but she had frequently heard of her from the youthful bosom at one moment look- the correspondents both in Scotland and ing forward with lively hope to a share in England, who transmitted her the in the innocent amusements natural to news of either capital, and enlivened her years and gaiety of disposition, at retirement by regular details of what the next experiencing a thousand fears was passing in the theatre, where she and apprehensions, lest she should not herself had once performed a part, and give satisfaction to her new mother, and became acquainted with the principal feeling a saddening reflection at the idea actors of the various dramas which, as of her father's strict prohibition of a sin- in more modern times, were composed gle article belonging to her own mother, of a heterogeneous mixture of characters, being permitted to remain in its place. strutting and fretting their hour upon the "Ah!" thought she, "this gay new stage; some good, some bad, some virbride has completely superseded the re- tuous, and some profligate. collection of the virtues and excellencies Of Lady Gertrude Davenport she had of my dear departed parent, and perhaps often heard; but no part of her friend's she, too, will rob the poor Malvina of communications had tended to impress the remains of a father's confidence and her with a high opinion of her Ladylove. Alas! I feel rejoiced when I ship's worth or talents. Beautiful she think that my father will be happy, far was said to be; but it was invariably happier than he has appeared since death added she was vain, haughty, selfish,viobereft him of my sainted mother; yet lent, and devoted to pleasure; nearly I know not how it is, but my mind is thirty years the junior of the Earl, who not at ease. A troubled joy rises in my was then in his fifty-second year, and so completely the slave of fashion, and a!!

her

*See Ath, p. 304.