Dr. Watt's Dictionary of the Economic Products of India

Abstract

IN your recent review of the above work, attention is drawn to the startling statement that “Diamond dust is known to be a powerful mechanical poison.” This statement, occurring as it does in an official work, issued by the Government of India, aroused my amazement when I first had occasion to consult the Dictionary. It occurred to me then, and I still think, that the author would have done better to have quoted the words of Colonel Wilks on the subject (“South of India,” vol. ii. p. 197), namely, “Whatever doubts may be entertained of the fact, there is none regarding the belief [by the Mahommedans of Southern India in the power of diamonds as a poison], and the supposed powder of diamonds is kept as a last resource like the sword of the Roman, but I never met with any person, who from his own knowledge could describe its visible effects, &c.”