1048 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [22] 



been let out, it was noticed that these vessels were covered with an 

 innumerable quantity of mussels. Tbe workmen gathered them, had 

 them cooked, and partook of them with their families. After a few 

 hours 19 persons (13 men, 5 women, and 1 child) were taken seriously 

 ill. Four died ; the first, three-quarters of an hour after having eaten 

 the mussels; the three others several hours later. We should state that 

 these two vessels were not covered with copper. 



The symptoms observed after eating only from five to six mussels 

 were in all cases the same. The teeth of the patients seemed blunted; 

 they experienced an itching sensation in the hands and feet, but no head- 

 ache. An excitement like the one produced by alcohol soon gave way 

 to a feeling of depression ; the pulse varied between 80 and 90 ; the tem- 

 perature of the body did not increase; the pupil of the eye became 

 dilated, but the vision did not become dim ; convulsive movements of 

 the hands were noticed, great feebleness in the lower extremities; no 

 diarrhea. During the last stage there were general chills, anxiety, a 

 feeling of oppression, and finally the patients died, without having lost 

 consciousness for a single moment. 



At the autopsy the intestines showed symptoms of inflammation of 

 the bowels, which confirms the opinion of Orfila as to the irritating action 

 of the poisonous substance. 



Professor Virchow gave some of these mussels to dogs, cats, rabbits, 

 and frogs; and all these animals died after having eaten a very small 

 quantity. Thus, the largest dog had only eaten from six to seven mussels. 

 A cat licked a very small quantity of the liquor from the mussels left 

 in a dish and was taken violently sick. The poison must, therefore, 

 have been very strong. Dr. Schmidtmann, the physician of Wilhelra- 

 shafen, who observed, all these cases of poisoning, believes that it was 

 ptomaine. Virehoav is inclined to consider it as a chemical poison. In 

 either 'case it must be admitted that the mussels produced this poison. 



In the Japan seas there is a species of fish which for several months 

 during the year becomes poisonous, while during the remaining portion 

 of the year it may be eaten with impunity. Does not this fact agree 

 with the supposition of a kind of virulence showing itself at the time of 

 reproduction, and might not this virulence be the result of the develop- 

 ment of a normal or accidental ptomaine, resembling the substance de- 

 scribed by Balbaud (in jfitudes sur I'empoisonnement par les moules, 

 Paris, 1S70), and termed by him rnolluscine (?) 



It is probable, however, that mussels may also become poisonous by 

 the beginning of the putrefying process, which would agree with the 

 circumstance that these cases of poisoning are more frequent during 

 the hot season. However this may be, the variety of symptoms ob- 

 served in most of the cases justifies the opinion that spoiled articles of 

 food of animal origin contain ptomaine or different chemical poisons. 

 The clinical observation therefore agrees entirely with the chemical ob- 

 servation, which has already isolated and characterized several of these 



