Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 2 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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During Our Passage
In Returning From Esmeralda To Atures, I Myself Narrowly Escaped An
Imminent Danger.
The curare, having imbibed the humidity of the air,
had become fluid, and was spilt from an imperfectly closed jar upon
our linen.
The person who washed the linen had neglected to examine
the inside of a stocking, which was filled with curare; and it was
only on touching this glutinous matter with my hand, that I was warned
not to draw on the poisoned stocking. The danger was so much the
greater, as my feet at that time were bleeding from the wounds made by
chegoes (Pulex penetrans), which had not been well extirpated. This
circumstance may warn travellers of the caution requisite in the
conveyance of poisons.
An interesting chemical and physiological investigation remains to be
accomplished in Europe on the poisons of the New World, when, by more
frequent communications, the curare de bejuco, the curare de raiz, and
the various poisons of the Amazon, Guallaga, and Brazil, can be
procured, without being confounded together, from the places where
they are prepared. Since the discovery of prussic acid,* (* First
obtained by Scheele in the year 1782. Gay-Lussac (to whom we are
indebted for the complete analysis of this acid) observes that it can
never become very dangerous to society, because its peculiar smell
(that of bitter almonds) betrays its presence, and the facility with
which it is decomposed makes it difficult to preserve.) and many other
new substances eminently deleterious, the introduction of poisons
prepared by savage nations is less feared in Europe; we cannot however
appeal too strongly to the vigilance of those who keep such noxious
substances in the midst of populous cities, the centres of
civilization, misery, and depravity.
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