Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XVI.djvu/747

 WOONSOCKET the opposite bank, are many extensive manu- factories, especially of telegraph cables. WOOJNSOCKET, a town of Providence co., Khode Island, on both sides of Blackstone river, 16 m. N. N. W. of the city of Provi- dence; pop. in 1870, 11,527; in 18Y5, 13,576. It borders N. on Massachusetts. Just across the line dividing it from North Smithfield is Woonsocket hill, 580 ft. high, the highest point in Rhode Island, with a pond on its summit. The town has railroad communica- tion by means of the Providence and Worcester and the New York and New England (Woon- socket and Boston division) lines. There are falls in the river. The manufacture of cotton and woollen goods is the principal industry. There are 17 cotton mills with upward of 200,000 spindles, seven woollen mills with 70 sets of cards, and three worsted mills; aggre- gate capital, from $4,000,000 to $5,000,000. Other establishments are an iron foundery, four machine shops, two manufactories of washing machines, one of rubber goods, and one of musical instruments. There are six na- tional banks, with an aggregate capital of $857,- 000 ; five savings banks, with deposits amount- ing to $4,400,000; graded public schools, in- cluding a high school ; a free public library (Harris institute), the gift of the late Edward Harris, with 6,000 volumes ; two daily, one semi-weekly, and two weekly newspapers, two of which are in French; and eight churches. Woonsocket was taken from the towns of Cumberland and Smithfield, and was incor- porated in 1867. WOOK AHA, Woorari, Wonrali, Cnrari, I'rarl, or Tirana, the name of several powerful poisons prepared by the natives of Para, Brazil, and the interior of British Guiana, and used by them for tipping the points of weapons em- ployed in war and in hunting. Their real nature and origin are not completely known. One of the most widely accepted accounts of the woorara is that given by Sir R. H. Schom- burgk, and asserted by him to be derived from information by the natives as well as observa- tion ; this is to the effect that the principal in- gredient is the juice of a tree or shrub of the same genus with that yielding nux vomica, for which accordingly he proposes the name strych- nos toxifera. It seems probable that the dif- ferent varieties come, at least in part, from several different plants, among which are the cocculus toxicophorus, strychnos Castelnceana, strychnos cogens, rouhamon Guianensis, and rouhamon curare. Like the poison of venom- ous serpents, woorara taken into the stomach is, at least in a large proportion of instances, entirely inert and harmless ; probably because it is so difficult of absorption by the mucous membranes, that it is removed from the blood by the excretory organs as fast as ingested. Dr. J. W. Green ("American Medical Gazette," vol. vi., p. 299) says that, taken by animals in large quantity and in an empty state of the stomach, it has caused death. The opinion WOORARA 723 that its chief ingredient is the venom of ser- pents is directly contradicted by the facts that the poison neither alters the character of tbo blood, nor excites inflammation in the wound through which it finds its way into the circu- lation, and also by the absence of any mention of this ingredient in some of the most trust- worthy accounts. It is by no means improb- able, however, that serpent venom, as well as an exudation from the skin of toads, may be introduced into some varieties. MM. Pelouze and Bernard found it to be absorbed as readily through the membrane of the air colls as when introduced into the areolar tissue. The ac- count of Dr. Hancock, said also to be derived from information by the natives, makes the woorara a watery extract from the bark of a convolvulus or gourd-like plant. Charles Wa- terton, in his "Wanderings in South America" (London, 1825), enumerates as the sources of the woorara poison a vine having that name, with a very bitter root, two gourd-like plants, two species of venomous ants, pepper, and the fangs of two sorts of poisonous serpents. From these is obtained a mixture having the appearance of a thick brown sirup, with which the arrows to be poisoned are anointed. The flesh of game killed with these arrows may be eaten at once with impunity. If the animal to be killed is large, it is sometimes necessary to use several arrows, which can be done the .more easily, as the discharge of the arrows is without noise, and a hunter may successively bring down many birds or small animals with them before he proceeds to gather up his game. They are discharged by blowing from a long slender tube or blow-pipe, called gravatana. The arrows are notched, so as to break off in the wound ; and by winding a cotton-like ma- terial about them they are made to fit the tube, which is of reed, and may be 8 or 12 ft. long. In Peru, arrows only 1| to 2 in. long are used, and the poison is of a different sort. The action of woorara has been carefully studied by physiologists, and found to consist in a pa- ralysis of the nerves controlling voluntary mo- tion, and later those presiding over organic life and the heart. The paralysis begins at the periphery, where the finer extremities of the nerves are distributed to the muscular fibres. If the dose is not too large, but yet sufficient to paralyze entirely the voluntary muscles of the thorax and diaphragm, artificial respiration, kept up long enough to allow the poison to be eliminated, will prevent the death of the ani- mal, although of course there will be no mo- tion, with the exception of the pulsations of the heart. It is much used in physiological experi- ments. The sensitive nerves are affected to a less degree, or, according to the earlier views, not at all. Its uses in practical medicine are extremely limited. It has been suggested as an antidote for strychnia ; but although a suffi- cient dose would prevent the spasm of the re- spiratory muscles, which is usually the enuse of death in poisoning by strychnia, it would do