CHAPTER III. 



FOODS CONTAINING BACTERIAL POISONS. 



Poisonous Mussels. — Judging from the symptoms 

 produced, there seem to be three different kinds of poison- 

 ous mussel. In one class, the symptoms resemble those of 

 a true gastro-intestinal irritant. Fodere reports the case of 

 a sailor, who, after eating a large dish of mussels, suffered 

 from nausea, vomiting, pain in the stomach, tenesmus, and 

 rapid pulse. After death, which occurred within two days, 

 the stomach and intestines were found inflamed and filled 

 with a tenacious mucus. Combe and others also report 

 cases of the choleraic form of poisoning from mussel. 



However, the symptoms which most frequently manifest 

 themselves after the eating of poisonous mussels are more 

 purely nervous. A sensation of heat and itching appears 

 usually in the eyelids, and soon involves the whole face, 

 and perhaps a large portion of the body. An eruption, 

 usually called nettle-rash, though it may be papular or 

 vesicular, covers the parts. The itching is most annoying, 

 and may be accompanied by marked swelling. There 

 follows a distressing asthmatic breathing, which is relieved 

 by ether. In some cases reported by Mohring, dyspnoea 

 preceded the eruption, the patients became insensible, the 

 face livid, and convulsive movements of the extremities 

 were noticed. Burrow reports similar cases with delirium, 

 convulsions, coma, and death within three days. 



In a third class of cases, there may be a kind of intoxi- 

 cation resembling somewhat that of alcohol, then paralysis, 

 coma, and death. 



In 1827, Combe observed thirty persons poisoned, two 

 of them fatally, with mussels. He describes the symptoms 

 as follows : " None, so far as I know, complained of any- 

 thing peculiar in the smell or taste of the animals, and 



