Video, poison keris blade

Bill S · 16th March 2008, 08:08 PM

The Dentrobatid frogs that are used for arrow poisons in South America do not occur in the Old World. And I'm not familiar with any other species that are used in the old world for such purposes. Certainly there are many plant poisons available, but I don't know of them being used on keris blades. I would not be surprised if there might be some residual arsenic from the traditional cleaning processes, but most likely only in small quantities. At a guess, I would think that the lack of a smooth, polished surface and the presence of residual, possibly decomposing aromatic plant oils plus incidental contaminations in a tropical environment could contribute to infections in a wound from a keris - and that this might be the source of the legends about poison blades.

16th March 2008, 08:08 PM	#2
Bill S Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Posts: 10	The Dentrobatid frogs that are used for arrow poisons in South America do not occur in the Old World. And I'm not familiar with any other species that are used in the old world for such purposes. Certainly there are many plant poisons available, but I don't know of them being used on keris blades. I would not be surprised if there might be some residual arsenic from the traditional cleaning processes, but most likely only in small quantities. At a guess, I would think that the lack of a smooth, polished surface and the presence of residual, possibly decomposing aromatic plant oils plus incidental contaminations in a tropical environment could contribute to infections in a wound from a keris - and that this might be the source of the legends about poison blades.