VEGETABLE POISONS. 213 



the canal at Chatham, had proved fatal in sixty- 

 seven hours. One of these was a boy fourteen 

 years of age, and the other was a boy of nine 

 years. The leading symptoms in these cases, 

 " were nausea, head ache, vomiting of a dark 

 green fluid, an eruption like the nettle rash on 

 the skin attended with intolerable itching ; great 

 difficulty of breathing ; excessive pain in the 

 abdomen and bowels ; intense thirst ; swelling of 

 the abdomen and face; a numbness and coldness 

 of the extremities ; delirium ; coma or stupor ; 

 dilated pupils of the eyes; a sunk, low, and tre- 

 mulous pulse, subsultus or catching of the ten- 

 dons, convulsions, and death. The bodies soon 

 after death became livid and putrified ; but as 

 their unhappy mother objected to their being 

 opened, the appearances on dissection could not 

 be ascertained." 



Captain Vancouver relates that several of his 

 men were ill from eating muscles, which they 

 collected, while exploring the coast of America 

 in the North Pacific Ocean. Three of them suf- 

 fered more than the others; and one of them died 

 in less than five hours after the fish had been 

 swallowed, very tranquil and apparently in a 

 deep sleep. His lips had turned very black, and 

 his extremities were much swollen. The other 

 two men, by drinking plentifully of warm water 

 and exciting vomiting, escaped with their lives ; 

 but were ill for many days afterwards. 



