Video, poison keris blade

[fearn]

Sorry for joining in late as well.

Couple of points:

a) while the arrow-poison frogs are indeed limited to the new world, poisons on toads are not. They are not as toxic as the arrow-poison (dendrobatid) frogs, but they can cause trouble. Or, if you're interested in an unpleasant trip, you can try "toad licking."

2) Cadavers and feces are pretty toxic, not because they have venoms, but because of bacteria. In a pre-antibiotic setting, in the tropics, septic wounds are bad.

iii) Since somebody brought up voodoo, we can also talk about the process of zombie-making, which involves poisoning people with a sublethal dose of tetrodotoxin from puffer fish. This is off-topic, but it is worth pointing out that a ritual/magical execution can have some sophisticated pharmacology associated with it.

Fortunately for us collectors, most of this gunk doesn't stay with the blades. I'd hate to have a poisoned blade lying around in a collection. I would be the person at most danger from it.

my 0.003 cents,

F