POISONOUS CHEESE. 57 



as reported to Wallace by Doolittle, who had charge 

 of the cases, were as follows: "There were at least fifty 

 persons poisoned by tins cheese. There were also eight 

 others who ate of the cheese, but felt no unpleasant effects ; 

 whether this was due to personal idiosyncrasy, or to an 

 uneven distribution of the poison throughout the cheese, I 

 am unable to say. 



" The majority, however, comprising fifty or sixty per- 

 sons, were seized, in from two to four hours after eating the 

 cheese, with vertigo, nausea, vomiting, and severe rigors, 

 though varying in their order of appearance and in severity 

 in different cases. The vomiting and chills were the most 

 constant and severe symptoms in all the cases, and were 

 soon followed by severe pain in the epigastric region, 

 cramps in the feet and lower limbs, purging and griping 

 pain in the bowels, a sensation of numbness or pins and 

 needles, especially in the limbs, and lastly, very marked 

 prostration, amounting almost to collapse in a few cases. 



"The vomit at first consisted of the contents of the 

 stomach, and had a strong odor of cheese ; afterward it 

 consisted of mucus, bile, and in three or four of the severer 

 cases blood was mixed with the mucus in small quantities. 

 Microscopic examination of the same was not made, but to 

 the eye it appeared as such. The vomiting and diarrhoea 

 lasted from two to twelve hours ; the rigors and muscular 

 cramps, one to two hours. The diarrhoeal discharges, at 

 first fecal, became later watery and light colored. No 

 deaths occurred, and for the most part the effects were 

 transient, and all that remained on the following day were 

 the prostration and numbness ; the latter occurred in about 

 one-half the cases, and disappeared in from one to three 

 days. 



" Children, as a rule, seemed to suffer less than adults, 

 and, of course, it was not possible to elicit as definite symp- 

 toms from them. The suddenness of the attack was 

 remarked by all, some feeling perfectly well until the 

 moment of attack. Nor did the symptoms seem to be in 

 proportion to the amount of cheese taken ; some of the 

 severest cases declared they had not eaten more than a cubic 



