had the same precursor in sufficient abundance; such a rainy summer as the past having been hardly remembered by any one. The rain water, gradually percolating into the bowels of the earth, may be converted into steam, by a combustion, to which a variety of causes may give excitement. Amongst these, the moistening of large beds of pyrites may perhaps be offered as one of the most simple explanations. Our late earthquake, however, may have not improbably had some remote connection with a subterraneous volcanic influence; and an account which appeared from Naples, informing us that, on August 7 last, Vesuvius was again in action, renders this last idea the less unlikely. Although, perhaps, not caused by electricity, it is very evident that this subtle agent was not entirely absent on the late occasion, as may be not only considered apparent from some of the effects produced, but is also proved by the flash of lightning seen to accompany the other phenomena at Montrose. The electric theory of earthquakes has been supported by Dr. Stukely, in his papers in vol. xlvi. of the Philosophical Transactions: and the Chevalier Vivenzio supposes the same cause to have operated in producing those of Calabria in 1783. But I cannot conceive electricity to have been the primary agent in producing the shock of August 13 last; otherwise it must have certainly left more unequivocal effects behind it. Having, however, endeavoured in this paper to bring before your readers most of the facts and appearances connected VOL. LVIII. with the late earthquake, an op- I remain, Sir, Your obedient humble servant, An Essay on the Oopas, or Poison tree of Java, by Thomas Horsefield, M. D. actions of the Lit. and Phil. Soc. of Java.) (From the Seventh Volume of the Trans I have proposed to myself in the following essay, to offer you a short account of the Oopas of Java. I feel some satisfaction in being able, at a time when every subject relating to this island has acquired a degree of interest, to furnish you with a faithful description of the tree, made by myself on the spot where it grows, and to relate its effects on the animal system by experiments personally instituted and superintended; and I flatter myself that the practical information detailed in the following sheets will refute the falsehoods that have been published concerning this subject, at the same time that it will remove the uncertainty in which it has been enveloped. The literary and scientific world has in few instances been more grossly and impudently imposed Pohon upon than by the account of the 2 P Pohon Oopas, published in Holland about the year 1780. The history and origin of this celebrated forgery still remains a mystery. Foersch, who put his name to the publication, certainly was (according to information I have received from creditable persons who have long resided on the island) a surgeon in the Dutch East India Company's service, about the time the account of the Oopas appeared.* It would be in some degree interesting to become acquainted with his character. I have been led to suppose that his literary abilities were as mean, as his contempt of truth was consummate. Having hastily picked up some vague information concerning the Oopas, he carried it to Europe, where his notes were arranged, doubtlessly by a different hand, in such a form, as by their plausibility and appearance of truth, to be generally credited. It is in no small degree surprising that so palpable a falsehood should have been asserted with so much boldness and have remained so long without refutation or that a subject of a nature so curious and so easily investigated, relating to its principal colony, should not have been inquired into and corrected by the naturalists of the mothercountry. To a person in any degree acquainted with the geography of the island, with the manners of the princes of Java, and their re *Foersch was a surgeon of the third class at Samarang in the year 1773. His account of the Oopas Tree appeared in 1783. lation to the Dutch government at that period, or with its internal history during the last fifty years, the first glance at the account of Foersch must have evinced its falsity and misrepresentation. Long after it had been promulgated, and published in the different public journals in most of the languages of Europe, a statement of facts, amounting to a refutation of this account, was published in one of the volumes of the Transactions of the Batavian Society, or in one of its prefatory addresses. But not having the work at hand, I cannot with certainty refer to it, nor shall I enter into a regular examination and refutation of the publication of Foersch, which is too contemptible to merit such attention. But though the account just mentioned, in so far as relates to the situation of the Poison Tree, to its effects on the surrounding country, and to the application Isaid to have been made of the Oopas on criminals in different parts of the island, as well as the description of the poisonous substance itself, and its mode of collection, has been demonstrated to be an extravagant forgery,—the existence of a tree on Java, from whose sap a poison is prepared, equal in fatality, when thrown into the circulation, to the strongest animal poisons hitherto known, is a fact, which it is at present my object to establish and to illustrate. The tree which produces this poison is called Antshar, and grows in the eastern extremity of the island. Before I proceed to the description of it and of the effects produced produced by its poison, I must premise a few remarks on the history of its more accurate investigation, and on the circumstances which have lately contributed to bring a faithful account of this subject before the public. At the time I was prosecuting my inquiries into the botany and natural history of the island on behalf of the Dutch government, M. Leschenault de La Tour, a French naturalist, was making a private collection of objects of natural history for the governor of the north-east coast of Java. He shortly preceded me in my visit to the eastern districts of the island, and while I was on my route from Sourabaya in that direction, I received from him a communication containing an account of the poison-tree as he found it in the province of Blambangan. I am induced to make this statement, in order to concede, as far as regards myself, to Mr. Leschenault de La Tour, in the fullest manner, the priority of observing the Oopas of Java. I do this to prevent any reflection, in case a claim to the discovery should be made at a future period: but I must be permitted to add in justice to the series of inquiries which engaged me and the manner in which they were carried on, that the knowledge of the existence of this tree was by no means uncommon or secret in the district of Blambangan, in the environs of Banyoo-wangee; that the commandant of the place, a man of some curiosity and inquiry, was acquainted with it, and that it could not (in all probability) have escaped the notice of a person, who made the vegetable productions an object of particular inquiry, and noted with minute attention every thing that related to their history and operation. It is in fact more surprizing that a subject of so much notoriety in the district of Blambangan, and of so great celebrity and misrepresentation in every other part of the world, should so long have remained unexplored, than that it should finally have been noticed and described; and since my visit to that province I have more than once remarked the coincidence which led two persons of nations different from each other, and from that which has been long in possession of the island, who commenced their inquiries without any previous communication and with different objects in view, within the period of about six months, to visit and examine the Oopas Tree of Java. The work of Rumphius contains a long account of the Oopas, under the denomination of Arbor Toxicaria; the tree does not grow in Anboyna, and his description was made from the information he obtained from Macassar. His figure was drawn from a branch of that which was called the male tree, sent to him from the same place, and establishing the identity of the poison-tree of Macassar and the other Eastern Islands with the Antshar of Java. The account of this author is too extensive to be abridged in this place. It concentrates all that has till lately been published on this subject; but the relation is mixed with many assertions and remarks of a fabulous nature, and it is highly probable that it was consulted in the fabrication of Foersch's story. It is, how2 P2 ever, In The simple sap of the Arbor Toxicaria (according to Rumphius) is harmless, and requires the addition of ginger and several substances analogous to it, such as Ledoory and Lampoegang, to render it active and mortal. so far it agrees with the Antshar, which in its simple state is supposed to be inert, and before being used as a poison, is subjected to a preparation which will be described after the history of the tree. The same effervescence and boiling which occurs on the mixture of the substances added to the milky juice by the Javanese in Blambangan, has been observed in the preparation of the poison of Macassar, and in proportion to the violence of these effects the poison is supposed to be active. A dissertation has been published by Crisp. Ejmlæus at Upsal, which contains the substance of the account of Rumphius; an extract from it is given in Dr. Duncan's Medic. Comment. for the year 1790. 2d vol. Vth Decad: It appears from the account of Rumphius that this tree is also found in Borneo, Sumatra and Bali. Besides the true poison-tree, the Oopas of the Eastern Islands, and the Antshar of the Javanese, this island produces a shrub, which, as far as observations have hitherto been made, is peculiar to the same, and, by a different mode of preparation, furnishes a poison far exceeding the Oopas in violence. Its name is Tshettik, and its specific description will succeed to that of the Antshar. The genus has not before been discovered or described. Description of the Antshar. The Antshar belongs to the twenty-first class of Linnæus, the Monoecia. The male and female flowers are produced in catkins (amenta) on the same branch, at no great distance from each other, the female flowers are in general above the male. The characters of the genus are: MALE. FLOWER-Calix consisting of several scales, which are imbricate. Corol. None-Stamines. Filaments many, very short, covered by the scales of the receptacle anthers. The receptacle on which the filaments are placed, has a conical form, abrupt, somewhat rounded above. FEMALE. FLOWER Catkins ovate. Calix consisting of a number of imbricate scales (generally more than in the male) containing one flower. Corol. None. Pistil-Germ single, ovate, erect; styles two, long, slender, spreading; stigmas simple, acute. Seed-vessel, an oblong drupe, covered with the calix. Seed, an ovate nut, with one cell. Specific Description. The Antshar is one of the largest trees in the forests of Java. The stem is cylindrical, perpendicular, and and rises completely naked to the height of sixty, seventy or eighty feet. Near the surface of the ground it spreads obliquely, dividing into numerous broad appendages or wings, much like the Canarian commune, and several others of our large forest trees. It is covered with a whitish bark, slightly bursting in longitudinal furrows near the ground this bark is, in old trees, more than half an inch thick, and, upon being wounded, yields plentifully the milky juice from which the celebrated poison is prepared. A puncture or incision being made in the tree, the juice or sap appears oozing out, of a yellowish colour (somewhat frothy); from old trees, paler; and nearly white from young ones: when exposed to the air, its surface becomes brown. The consistence very much resembles milk, only it is thicker and viscid. This sap is contained in the true bark (or cortex), which, when punctured, yields a considerable quantity, so that in a short time a cup full may be collected from a large tree. The inner bark (or liber) is of a close fibrous texture, like that of the morus papyrifera, and when separated from the other bark, and cleansed from the adhering particles, resembles coarse piece of linen. It has been worked into ropes which are very strong, and the poorer class of people employ the inner bark of younger trees, which is more easily prepared, for the purpose of making a coarse stuff which they wear when working in the fields. But it requires much bruising, washing, and a long immersion in water before it can be used, a and even when it appears completely purified, persons wearing this dress, on being exposed to the rain, are affected with, an intolerable itching, which renders their flimsy covering almost insupportable. It will appear from the account of the manner in which the poison is prepared, that the delete- ` rious quality exists in the gum, a small portion of which still adhering to the bark, produces, when it becomes wet, this irritating effect, and it is singular, that this property of the prepared bark is known to the Javanese in all places where the tree grows (for instance in various parts of the provinces of Bangil and Malang, and even at Onarang), while the preparation of a poison from its juice, which produces a mortal effect when introduced into the body by pointed weapons, is an exclusive art of the inhabitants of the eastern extremity of the island. One of the Regents in the eastern districts informed me, that having many years ago prepared caps or bonnets from the inner bark of the Antshar, which were stiffened in the usual manner with thick rice water, and handsomely painted, for the purpose of decorating his Mantries, they all decidedly refused to wear them, asserting that they would cause their hair to fall off. The stem of the Antshar having arrived at the before-mentioned height, sends off a few stout branches, which spreading nearly horizontally with several irregular curves, divide into smaller branches, and form a hemispherical, but not very regular crown. The |