174 



correct these effects. My pupils were normal, so was my heart. 

 I decided not to take any remedy, but to oxidize the poison, if 

 possible, by exercise. So I helped carry Mrs. Douglass home, 

 then I brisked about, washed out Mrs. Douglass's stomach, 

 gave her some vinegar, sent for the doctor in case I should not be 

 able to attend to her. 



I then awoke the maid, who had also eaten the Panaolns 

 and, unsolicited, she said that about 8:30 P.M. she was on the 

 porch watching the boats in the bay. She became dizzy and 

 could not see the boats any longer. The vertigo became worse 

 so she went to bed. As she had apparently recovered I gave her 

 no treatment except vinegar and a purge. 



Six hours after eating and five hours after the earliest symp- 

 toms ev^ery evidence of poisoning had disappeared with us all, 

 except that Mrs. Douglass's pupils remained dilated for 24 hours. 



The experience just narrated diminished considerably the 

 anxiety with which we searched for new species of mushrooms 

 to eat, but it increased an interest in cases of mushroom poisoning. 

 In looking over the literature on the subject I have come across 

 some interesting facts, a few of which I have set down in the 

 part of the communication which follows and I have been very 

 materially aided by the excellent article of Dr. M. Roch entitled 

 "Les Empoissonements par les Champignons," appearing in the 

 Bulletin of the Botanical Society of Geneva, 1913, Vol. V, of 

 which I have availed mj'self freely, sometimes even literally. 



1 1 . Frequency 



My chagrin and the shock to my ignorant assurance and 

 foolhardiness has been somewhat assuaged by learning that we 

 moved among distinguished society. The wife and children 

 of Euripedes, Pope Clement VH, Emperor Jovian, Emperor 

 Charles VI, the wife of Czar Alexis and the Emperor Claudius 

 were among those who have died of mushroom poisoning. In 

 December, 1897, the Department of Agriculture in Washington 

 issued a special brochure on this subject because two well-known 

 residents were killed by toadstools and every summer the daily 

 press publishes fatal results in various parts of the United States. 



