THE DEADLY AMANITA 63 



Shenandoah, Pa., October 26, 1885. 

 Mr. Chas. McIlvaine : 



My dear Sir,— In compliance with your request, I take pleasure 

 in submitting to your consideration the following report of five 

 cases of toadstool-poisoning which recently came under my ob- 

 servation and treatment : 



On Monday, August 31, at 10 a.m., I was hastily called to see 



a family, consisting of Mr. F., his wife, his mother-in-law, Mrs. R., 



and his brother-in-law, Thomas R., who, the 



Amanita messenger stated, were having " cramps in the 



poisoning bowels." 



symptoms Promptly responding to the call, I found them 



suffering from intense abdominal pains, nausea, 

 vomiting, boneache, and feelings of distress in the prcBcordial 

 region. 



Mr. F., twent)'-nine years of age, was a miner by occupation, 

 and had led an intemperate life. Mrs. F., twenty-two years of 

 age, was a brunette, possessing a delicate body, and bearing a 

 decided neurotic tendency. Mrs. R., forty-five years of age, was a 

 small nervo-bilious woman. Thomas R., thirteen years of age, was 

 a youth well developed. 



While I was examining these patients, Mrs. B., forty years of 

 age, a neighbor of the family, presented herself, manifesting in a 

 milder degree the same symptoms. She was a tall, spare woman. 

 Previous to their present attack of illness their general health was 

 good ; in none could signs of disease be traced. 



Picture to your mind five persons suffering from cholera morbus 

 in its most aggravated form, and you will be enabled to form a 

 pretty correct idea of what I beheld in the Faris residence on 

 Monday morning, August 31. 



That five individuals, four being members of one household, 

 should be attacked simultaneously by a similar train of symptoms, 

 naturally gave rise in my mind to a suspicion that something poi- 

 sonous had been eaten. Upon close inquiry I obtained the fol- 

 lowing history : 



On the afternoon of Sunday, August 30, Mr. F. and Thomas R. 

 were walking through a wood not far distant from their home, 

 and, in wandering from place to place, found clusters of very 



