230 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES- 



down over the arms. A consciousness of lightness and that objects have no weight 

 comes over the patients ; they believe that they can fly. 



The second stage is marked by a feeling of restlessness and fear. No rise of bodily 

 temperature takes place, but the pulse rate is quickened to a frequency of 80 to 90 per 

 minute. The pupils of the eyes are dilated and reactionless, there is a feeling of giddi- 

 ness, and the patients speak in a weak voice and with difficulty. They hold themselves 

 in an upright position with great pain. The secretion of urine is suspended or passed 

 with pain and great effort. 



The third stage follows with vomiting and cramps and sometimes, but rarely, 

 with diarrhea. The pulse grows feeble, and the limbs become cold. The condition 

 of restlessness increases with a feeling of suffocation. Through it all the senses remain 

 intact. Finally the body becomes cold, the patient sinks into a state of unconscious- 

 ness, and death follows in a quiet sleep. Cameron (1890) states that some of his patients 

 appeared to have died from asphyxiation, their faces being intensely livid. In some 

 cases the symptoms do not begin to show themselves until 12 hours after eating the 

 poisonous shellfish, while in others death has resulted within 2 hours after the meal. 



Rolfe (1904), who had two patients afflicted with the paralytic type of poisoning 

 under his observation, noticed that hot strong coffee had a marked beneficial effect 

 upon the pulse and general condition. He reports that the patient which gave least 

 promise of getting well drank coffee and survived, while the other took no coffee and 

 died. 



The autopsies made by Virchow (1885) established the facts that as a general rule 

 there is an accentuated rigor mortis in the bodies of persons who die from this form of 

 poisoning; the cardiac and arterial blood is dark in color and viscous in consistency 

 except where the arteries are more exposed to the action of oxygen, in which places it 

 is clear red. The most pronounced alterations appeared in the omentum and the large 

 intestine, which with the stomach were strongly hyperemic. The mucosa of the small 

 intestine was likewise strongly injected with blood and covered with mucous swellings. 

 The spleen was swollen, and the liver presented a congested condition. 



The characters of the mussels which cause this type of poisoning are different 

 from those of the normal shellfish. Schmidtmann (1888) observed a nauseating odor 

 to the broth prepared from them. The mussels had a yellow color and the shells were 

 unusually thin and fragile, while the liver was darker than the ordinary and very brittle. 



SOURCES OF POISON. 



Wolff (1886), Schmidtmann (1888), Lustig (1888), Thesen (1902), and Netter et 

 Ribadeau-Dumas (1907) determined that the poison was confined entirely to the liver, 

 but how it gets into the organ is still a theoretical matter. Wolff (1886) believed that 

 the poison was secreted as the result of a disease and stored up in the liver. The change 

 in volume, color, and consistence of the liver and of variation in toxicity supports this 

 view. Schmidtmann (1888) established the fact, however, that the toxic mussels are 

 found only in certain special restricted localities, where the water is in a stagnant 

 condition, and that if removed to open, freely circulating water of the sea they lose their 

 poisonous qualities in less than four months. And, on the other hand, if harmless 

 mussels are transferred to the stagnant waters of the inner harbor of Wilhelmshaven 

 they develop toxic properties in from two to three weeks. This would suggest that 



