[33] Although a serious refutation of the gross imposition practised on the people of Europe, by the romance of Foersch on the subject of the upas, or celebrated poison-tree of Java, may at this day be in a great measure superfluous, as the world has long ceased to be the dupe of his story, and as regular series of experiments have been instituted, both in France and in England, to ascertain the nature and potency of the poison; yet it may not be altogether displeasing to the reader to see in this place an authentic account of the poison, as drawn out by Dr. Horsfield at my request, and published in the seventh volume of the Batavian Transactions. Almost every one has heard of its fabulous history, which, from its extravagant nature, its susceptibility of poetical ornament, its alliance with the cruelties of a despotic government, and the sparkling genius of Darwin, whose purpose it answered to adopt and personify it as a malignant spirit (in his Lives of the Plants), has obtained almost equal currency with the wonders of the Lerna Hydra, the Chimera, or any other of the classic fictions of antiquity. "Although the account published by Foersch, in so far as relates to the situation of the poison-tree, to its effects on the surrounding country, and to the application said to have been made of the upas 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 the sap of which a poison is prepared, equal in fatality, when thrown into the circulation, to the strongest animal poisons hitherto known, is a fact which is at present my object to establish and illustrate. The tree which produces this poison is the anchar, and grows in the eastern extremity of the island. The work of Rhumphius contains a long account of the upas, under the denomination of arbor toxicaria. The tree does not grow on Amboyna, and his description was made from the information he obtained from Makasar. His figure was drawn from a branch of what is called the male-tree, sent to him from the same place, and establishes the identity of the poison-tree of Makasar, and the other Eastern Islands, with the anchar of Java. The simple sap of the arbor toxicaria (according to Rhumphius) is harmless, and requires the addition of several substances, of the affinity of ginger, to render it active and mortal. In so far it agrees with the anchar, which, in its simple state, is _supposed_ to be inert, and before being employed as a poison, is subjected to a preparation which will be described after the history of the tree. Besides the true poison-tree, the upas of the Eastern Islands, and the anchar of the Javans, 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 upas in violence.