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and vomited frequently during the day. The rest had only suffered from vertigo.

On 29th all the above symptoms of the girl were increased, to which were added purging, excessive thirst, pains in stomach and bowels, along the spine, and in the ankles, with clonic spasms and occasional delirium, incoherent talking and muttering. She passed a disturbed night, with the same symptoms increasing in degree, having lucid intervals and intervals of rest. Towards morning, in the wildness of her delirium, she rose from bed and walked into the garden. At last she sank into a profound coma, and died at 1 p.m. on the 30th.

On 29th the father and boy began to complain. He was obliged to leave his work on account of dizziness, and said he felt as if intoxicated. He vomited once or twice during the day, had some diarrhoea, and complained of pain in the occiput and ankles. The mother was similarly affected on the morning of 30th. On afternoon of 29th the boy began to purge, and vomited occasionally during the night; the purging increasing very much on 30th. The boy had nearly the same symptoms as the girl from this time till he died, viz. extreme restlessness, thirst, spasms, vomiting, purging, and wild delirium.

At 9.30 a.m. on 31st the boy was in the following state:Decubitus upon the back, inclined to left side; skin about the mouth, face, head, and neck of a slightly livid hue; the whole surface of the body of normal temperature; entirely unconscious; breathing stertorous, and ten per minute; pupils contracted, but eyeball not fixed; tongue dry and swollen, the surface covered with inflamed patches; spasmodic jerking of the muscles of the extremities, and tonic contraction of the dorsal and lumbar muscles, amounting to decided opisthotonos; abdomen tympanitic; pulse 110 and irregular. Died in two hours.

The specimen shown, which was said to be like those used, resembled the Agaricus campestris.

16. Southern Journal of Medicine and Pharmacy, 1847, vol. ii, p. 224.

Quoted from Journal de Chimie Médicale, November, 1846. Two ladies ate some mushrooms for dinner. At 2 a.m. the youngest, æt. 18, was awoke by very severe pains, and her mother soon had the same symptoms. The next day the pains

continued; symptoms analogous to those of cholera supervened. The younger lady died in fifty-two hours, and her mother a few hours after. The mushrooms belonged to the species known as the Bulbous agaric. They are very white beneath, and the stem is much enlarged at its base, but it is surrounded by a valve, which envelopes it entirely beyond its expansion; it is very thin, and the pellicle which covers the head is of a greenishyellow colour. Insects never touch it, and it never grows except in the shade of forests.

17. Medical Times and Gazette, 1863, vol. ii, p. 536. By Dr. John Taylor.

A boy, æt. 13, ate some fried fungi at 8.30 a.m. In one hour and a half he vomited. Soon after 6 p.m. he said he felt bad, and vomited violently. He took some salts in warm tea; purging soon followed with severe paroxysmal abdominal pain. The vomiting, purging, and pain continued till 6 a.m. next day. At 11.30 a.m. he had constant pain in bowels, worse at intervals; slight tenderness over the general surface of the abdomen, particularly over the course of the transverse colon; vomiting every ten minutes; great thirst; surface warm and perspiring; pulse about 90, soft and compressible, and he seemed somewhat depressed. At 2.30 a.m. of next day he complained that he had not passed any urine since the morning, but constantly wanted to do so. In half an hour he was said to be dying. He had been assisted out of bed to urinate, had made a croupy noise, and then fainted. He was now in bed, lying on his back with the knees drawn up. The vomiting, which had abated during the day, had returned, and he was again purged. He was now much exhausted, the pulse almost imperceptible at the wrist, and the heart's action very feeble. He had great pain, especially above the pubes and at the epigastrium, extending thence to between his shoulders and up his chest. General tenderness, but no swelling of abdomen. "Pins and needles" in his feet and buttocks. He died in about an hour.

Post mortem thirty-six hours after death. Left ventricle of heart contracted and empty; a little fluid blood in both auricles. Walls of abdomen flat and flaccid. Congestion of stomach and small intestines, the vesssels having a bluish-red appearance through the transparent peritoneum, the bluish-red appearance

diminishing in intensity towards the cæcum. patches near the pyloric end of the stomach.

A few ecchymosed

Spleen congested,

and fluid blood oozed from it on section. Liver large, pale fawn colour, the ducts loaded. Gall-bladder full. Half an ounce of urine in bladder.

18. Lancet, 1828-9, vol. ii, p. 93.

A case occurring at the Hôpital St. Antoine, translated from Journ. Hebdomad.

A woman, æt. 30, and her husband were admitted on May 27th, 1828, having eaten the day before a quantity of white champignons for breakfast; two hours after which she had sickness, and soon after violent vomiting of black matter and profuse diarrhoea. On her admission she was in a very precarious state; in the course of twenty-four hours she had vomited more than sixty times, and the diarrhoea had been almost incessant. The abdomen was free from pain even on pressure, but vomiting was very painful, and accompanied by hiccup and extreme anxiety; the pulse was very small and frequent, the countenance expressive of distress, the lips and nails of fingers livid, the whole surface of the body cold. She was perfectly sensible, but very weak, and complained of an oppressive fainting sensation at the epigastrium. The head was free, and respiration tranquil. Blisters to thighs, emollient injections, and milk were ordered. Next day no change, except that the diarrhoea was somewhat less; the face was livid, the extremities cold, and the pulse could hardly be felt; the abdomen continued free from pain; respiration was not laborious, although the patient expressed by signs. that she was tormented by a feeling of suffocation and violent oppression at the sternum. The remedies were continued, and fifteen leeches applied to the abdomen.

On 30th vomiting

On 29th vomiting less, otherwise the same. ceased; she seemed to feel much better though extremely weak. She complained of a slight pain in the head and giddiness. On 31st the latter symptoms had increased, and on June 1st she was found in a comatose state, from which it was impossible to rouse her; the eyes were half opened and rolled from one side to the other; all voluntary motion appeared extinct; the pulse was imperceptible, and the heart's pulsation could scarcely be heard with the stethoscope; respiration was very slow, and the extremities

cold. At noon she made a sudden effort to vomit and died immediately afterwards.

Post mortem.—Brain very firm and much injected; sinus of dura mater gorged with dark blood, of which a considerable quantity was extravasated on the surface and at the base of brain. The thoracic cavity contained about four ounces of dark-coloured liquid blood. The lungs were dark brown, very solid, and without any trace of vessels or air-cells. On pressing the substance, which was very like that of the spleen, no crepitation was produced, and a thick blackish fluid was seen oozing from it. The mucous membrane of trachea and bronchi was a brownred. The heart contained a dark grumous blood, its internal surface and the pericardium were injected. The mucous membrane of the stomach, especially at its greater arch, was softened and covered with black gangrenous patches, which were also found on its peritoneal coat; the internal tunic of the small intestines was injected, and in some places evidently gangrenous; the ascending colon was softened and gangrenous throughout. Liver and kidneys were full of blood but healthy.

The husband of the above, æt. 46, was likewise seized two hours after breakfast with sickness, which ended in frequent vomiting and diarrhoea. On his admission most of the symptoms still continued; the diarrhoea had ceased, but he had continual sickness and retching; the extremities were cold, pulse small, face very pallid. There was excessive anxiety, sense of oppression on chest, especially at pit of stomach, and extreme weakness. The abdomen was free from pain, even on pressure. He recovered.

19. Lancet, 1829-30, vol. i, p. 758.

Case translated from Annali Univ. de Cuivdei, October, 1829. By Dr. Carresi.

A family, consisting of a mother, two sons, and two daughters, ate one evening some of the Agaricus bulbosus and vernus. In two hours they were seized with violent pain in stomach, headache, giddiness, sickness, ardent thirst, and trembling of all the limbs, and had ultimately fallen into a comatose state. The mother and eldest son, who was an adult, vomited freely with considerable relief; the others passed the whole night with violent pain in the stomach, great sickness and retching, ischuria, tenesmus, and general convulsions.

When Dr. Carresi saw them (on October 10th, 1828), all the symptoms continued except in the mother and eldest son, in whom they were somewhat relieved. He at once gave an emetic-cathartic potion and Carbonate of Ammonia. On the morning of 11th all dangerous symptoms had subsided except in the youngest boy, who had refused to take the emetic; he was now almost senseless, with general convulsions, trismus, tympanitis, and great dyspnoea; eyes staring, face flushed, extremities cold, pulse hard and intermitting. Under these symptoms he died, apparently suffocated, and within a few minutes after his death the whole surface of the body was covered with vibrices and petechia. The others complained still of very violent colic pains round navel and giddiness, and one of the girls had hiccup.

Post mortem of the boy.-Mucous membrane of pharynx and cesophagus inflamed, stomach and intestines inflamed, and in some places gangrenous; mucous membrane of larynx inflamed; the lungs, especially left, much gorged with blood.

20. Lancet, 1836-7, vol. ii, p. 512.

By Dr. D. O. Edwards.

A man, æt. 25, his wife, æt. 23, and son, æt. 4, ate some of the common esculent mushrooms, with which the father had been well acquainted for years.

They had eaten them in the morning, and in half an hour were seized with giddiness and the train of symptoms which follows. When seen in the afternoon they seemed intoxicated; they were in continual motion, either dancing or throwing themselves into grotesque attitudes. Their countenances expressed the highest hilarity, and their consciousness was quite unclouded. On being charged with drunkenness the adults exhibited the most lively indignation. The man was most vividly affected by the poison; his eyes glistened, pupils dilated, pulse full and frequent, no sordes on lips or teeth, tongue clean, breath untainted. He conversed without embarrassment, and said he understood everything around him. He had been affected about an hour, and the order of the symptoms was as follows:-First, he had giddiness; this gradually increased till a dimness of sight supervened. He then appeared to himself as if involved in flame; the hearing became painfully acute, and objects became confused to the eye. He occasionally felt a sentiment of uncontrollable gladness, which

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