If I do not mistake, the first and almost immediate effect of this poison is upon the nerve centres. For certain the blood remains unaltered, or at least no change is visible and the flesh of animals killed with legop does not lose any of its flavour nor is there any danger in eating it.
But I dare not speak with any precision about the nature of certain venomous products because where the vast field for scientific research begins, the unpretending labour of the colonist, who collects, refers and describes, finishes, leaving to the chemical student and the physiologist the task of drawing from the information given, those results which may be for the good of humanity in general.
The poisonous flora of the forest is not limited to trees and climbing plants; it extends also to countless herbs, to an infinite variety of fungi, berries, flowers and tempting fruits.
The realm of poison is known but very little. It still reserves the greatest surprises for the scientist who wishes to explore it. And because provident Nature in every manifestation of its fecundity has the habit of putting different qualities in contrast I think that amongst such an abundant vegetation of dangerous plants there may be another, perhaps less plentiful but which would serve to oppose the deadly effects of the first.
The Sakai knows no antidote except those I have mentioned: the lemmah kapiting and the one empirically prepared with quicklime and urine. Neither of them, however, can be warranted as genuine articles, so in this field Science would have everything to discover.
The great Sorceress, the great and incomparable Malayan Forest, offers wonderful treasures to the world, some of which give charms to Life and others conceal the snares of Death.
It is for the homo sapiens to distinguish this from that and to make himself the master of their secrets as he has done with Electricity, thereby making it the means of illumination, motive power, and the alleviation of many physical sufferings.
This forest, which would have answered to all the criminal exigencies of the Borgias as regards poisons, is still a waste land, notwithstanding its extraordinary riches.
Let Science tell us of the immense treasures there produced for the welfare of Mankind.