THE DEADLY AMANITA 6>J 



In reply to the queries, Was atropine administered 

 in all the cases? and What was the total amount 

 administered to each ? Dr. Shadle responded as fol- 

 lows: 



Shenandoah, Pa., October 29, 1885. 



My dear Mr. McIlvaine : 



Yours of the 27th I have received. The two questions you ask 

 me therein I see are very important, and they should be answered 

 as fully as possible. I am sorry I overlooked the matter in my 

 report. 



Before attempting an answer, it is well for me to note right 



here that Mrs. B., the neighbor, did not eat very much of the 



toadstool stew ; Mrs. R. and Mr. F. each ate 



about the same quantity — from one and one- 

 Amanitine , , . , ,. , -^ , . . 



and atropine *° *"'° P^^tefuls. This is according to 



Faris's statement. But the two fatal cases — 

 Thomas R. and Mrs. F. — tried to see which 

 could eat the most, and consequently got their full share of the 

 poison. The cat mentioned before had about a tablespoonful of 

 the broth, and they tell me she was very sick. Whether or not 

 she died is not known. 



Now as to the treatment by atropine, I think I can approximate 

 a pretty correct statement in reply to your queries. Not knowing 

 that atropine was considered an antidote, I began its employment 

 in the treatment of these cases from the physiological knowledge 

 I had of the drug relative to its action in other diseases in which 

 there was heart-failure and embarrassed respiration. 



When I saw the U. S. Dispensatory suggested it, I of course felt 

 it my duty to use it, as I could find nowhere anything else men- 

 tioned as an antidote. I feel convinced that it was by means of 

 the atropine that I saved three of the five patients. Why do I 

 think so ? Because whenever I would administer the remedy the 

 patient rallied, the pulse returned at the wrist, the heart-sounds 

 became stronger, and the respiration increased in strength and 

 fulness. What more conclusive evidence do I want than this to 

 show as to how the agent was acting? 



When I first saw the patients — twelve hours after the ingestion 



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