[Poisoning with toxic plants in Curacao in 1766].

In the spring of 1766 a black supervisor in Curaçao was the victim of attempted poisoning by a black practitioner or curador, engaged by two persons caught stealing by the supervisor. Data on the case were preserved in a letter from the Curaçao director to the managers of the West-Indian Company in Amsterdam. In retrospect, the symptoms of the intoxication indicate that a similar mixture of toxic plants was used as described in 890 A.D. by the Arabic medical writer Wahshiya in his 'Book of Poisons': Calotropis procera and Pithecellobium unguis cati.