214 MR. JAMESON ON THE POISONOUS EEEECT 



wlio were said to have been poisoued by eating part of a well-known 

 deleterious fish, common in Simon's Bay. 



" I immediately repaired on board, taking with me some svd- 

 phate of zinc ; but on my arrival, about 12'' 45"", found that both 

 men had expired some minutes before. The countenances were 

 collapsed and pallid, covered with cold perspiration ; lips livid ; 

 pupils moderately dilated ; joints still flexible, and limbs relaxed. 

 The symptoms as described to me were, pain and burning sensa- 

 tion at the epigastrium ; constriction and spasm of the fauces and 

 muscles of deglutition ; rigidity of the tendons, commencing in 

 the fingers and toes ; great anguish and distress about the prae- 

 cordia; rapidly supervening coma, convulsions terminating the 

 scene in one of them. Although vomiting had taken place only 

 in one of the men, there seemed to have been an attempt at it in the 

 other, as ejected matter filled his mouth and flowed from it : this, 

 indeed, was the case with both ; but, as will appear from the post 

 mortem examination, vomiting in either case must have been very 

 partial, as the stomachs were still distended with food. It is said 

 to have been the liver of a single fish that was eaten : it is known 

 in Simon's Bay by the name of the Toad-fish {Aplodactylus pimc- 

 tatiis ? or Tetraodon, Cuvier) . It seems they were aware, or had 

 been warned, that the fish was poisonous, but were resolved to 

 try the experiment, — the boatswain asserting that the liver was not 

 so, but rather considered a delicacy. This fish is from 6 to 8 inches 

 long, and the liver may have weighed about 4 drachms. Dinner 

 had been piped to at twelve o'clock, after finishing which the fatal 

 morsel was cooked ; this could not have been sooner than twenty 

 minutes after twelve o'clock ; at 12'' 45°' I got on board, at which 

 time life had been extinct for some minutes ; so that the period 

 from the taking of the poison until death could not have exceeded 

 twenty minutes. 



" After the fatal issue was generally known among the ship's 

 company, the cook, who had fried the liver for the others, came 

 forward, and said that he had eaten a small portion which had 

 adhered to tlie bottom of the pan, and complained of dryness of 

 the fauces and unpleasant sensations in the stomach ; but his pulse 

 remained firm, and he had no alarming symptoms. He was natu- 

 rally very much frightened, from which I am inclined to think 

 that his sensations were either occasioned by alarm, or at all 

 events much exaggerated thereby. It was thought prudent to 

 give him an emetic of the zinc, sulph., after the operation of which, 



