Symptoms of poisoning by Mushrooms.
Exhilaration of spirits, laughter, vertigo, sickness, griping pains, vomiting, and purging, suffusion of the eyes, stupor, cold sweats, syncope, convulsions, death. Numerous records of sickness and death might be adduced in illustration of this subject. The celebrated musician, Schobert, and, with the exception of one child, his whole family, together with a friend and a physician who dined with him, were all fatally poisoned by a dish of mushrooms, which he had himself gathered in the fields of Saint Gervais, a village in the environs of Paris. It is not known to what species the plants belonged. In the Gazette de Santé, for August 1812, we have the following narrative. “M. Dufour, a physician of Montargis, gathered in the neighbouring forest some mushrooms, which were stripped of their skin, and their stem, cut into pieces, and cooked in their juice with butter and fine herbs, under a camp oven. They were served up at table. The servant girl, aged twenty years, who had eaten the greatest quantity, very shortly complained of confusion of the head, giddiness, and a slight heaving of the stomach; her face was red and inflamed, the eyes starting and lively, the pulse full and undulating. The eldest daughter of M. Dufour experienced the same symptoms without any nausea. A little child, eighteen months old, that had only eaten some bread dipped in the gravy, slept quietly for sixteen hours, contrary to his usual custom, and exhibited no other remarkable phenomenon. The other child, aged eleven years, complained of confusion of the head and intoxication; the parents did not experience any ill effects. Upon investigation it was discovered that two mushrooms of the Agaricus Muscarius, having been confounded with the proper one, had entered into the composition of the dish.”
Amongst the cases which have occurred in this country, we may particularize that related by Mr. E. Brande, in the third volume of the London Medical and Physical Journal, p. 41, “J. S. gathered early in the morning of the third of October, in the Green Park, what he supposed to be small mushrooms; these he stewed with the common additions in a tinned iron[[469]] saucepan. The whole did not exceed a tea-saucer full, which he, and four of his children ate the first thing, about eight o’clock in the morning, as they frequently had done without any bad consequence; they afterwards took their usual breakfast of tea, &c., which was finished about nine, when Edward, one of the children (eight years old) who had eaten a large proportion of the fungi, was attacked with fits of immoderate laughter, nor could the threats of his father or mother restrain him. To this succeeded vertigo, or stupor; the pupils of his eyes were, at times, dilated to nearly the circumference of the cornea, and scarcely contracted at the approach of a strong light; his breathing was quick, his pulse very variable, at times imperceptible, at others too frequent and small to be counted, latterly very languid; his feet were cold, livid, and contracted; he sometimes pressed his hands on different parts of his abdomen, as if in pain, but when roused and interrogated respecting it, he answered yes, or no, evidently without any relation to what was asked. About the same time the father, aged forty, was attacked with vertigo, and complained that every thing appeared black, then wholly disappeared; to this succeeded loss of voluntary motion and stupor; in about ten minutes he gradually recovered, but complained of universal numbness and coldness, with great dejection, and a firm persuasion that he was dying; in a few minutes he relapsed, but recovered as before, and had several similar fits during three or four hours, each succeeding one being less violent, and with longer intermission than that preceding. Harriet, twelve years old, who had eaten but a very small quantity, was also attacked at the time with slight vertigo. Charlotte, a delicate little girl, ten years of age, who had eaten a considerable quantity, was suddenly attacked in the presence of Dr. Burges and myself, with vertigo and loss of voluntary motion. Martha, aged eighteen, who had eaten a small proportion, was attacked with similar symptoms.” By judicious treatment they all recovered. Upon investigation Mr. Sowerby determined the mushroom to have been a variety of the A. glutinosus of Curtis (Flora Londinensis) the same with Dr. Withering’s A. semi-globatus; and yet no notice of its deleterious properties is taken by either of these botanists.
A less fortunate case of poisoning by Fungi is related in the twentieth volume of the same journal by Mr. Parrott, surgeon of Mitcham, of which the following is a sketch. The subject of the history was a family of six persons, viz. William Attwood, ætat. 45; Eliza, his wife, 38; and their daughters, Mary, æt. 14; Hannah, 11; Sarah, 7; Eliza, 5. They all ate stewed champignons, at one o’clock, on Monday the 10th of October, which stew was made in an iron vessel, and consisted of the articles already mentioned with the addition of butter and flour, pepper, salt, and water only; and each of the parties (Hannah excepted) was supposed to have eaten more than half a pint. Within ten minutes after they had eaten their meal, they felt their spirits exhilarated, and the eldest daughter said to her mother “how funny you look.” All the parties continued cheerful till about six o’clock, when having taken their tea, they were attacked with stupor, which was soon succeeded, by severe pains in the bowels, accompanied with violent vomiting, and copious purging, which continued till the following afternoon, when the parents became alarmed and sent for the surgeon. The treatment which was pursued appears to have been, in every respect, judicious, and Mary had so far recovered on the following day (Wednesday) that she walked into the village about a quarter of a mile from home; in the evening, however, the symptoms returned; on Thursday evening she became convulsed, and died on Friday morning at two o’clock. Eliza did not complain much of her sufferings, but became convulsed at the same time as her sister, and died half an hour after her. Sarah never complained of pain in the head, but was continually suffering under extreme pain in the bowels, which was aggravated by pressure, but no tension existed; she died on Saturday morning, in the same convulsed state as her sisters. A dog which had partaken of the stew died on the Wednesday night, apparently in great agony. The father recovered, the mother, who was two months advanced in pregnancy, miscarried, but ultimately became convalescent. Mr. Wheeler, of St. Bartholomew’s hospital, a gentleman who has been long known to the profession as an eminent botanist, no sooner heard of the event than he repaired to the spot where the mushrooms had been gathered, when he immediately recognised the Agaricus semi-globatus, which had nearly proved fatal in the instance related by Mr. E. Brande, and which, upon being shewn to the father, he instantly pronounced to be similar to those, of which the family had so unfortunately eaten.
Organic Lesions discovered on Dissection.
In the above case of the family of Attwood, the body of Mary was examined, but no morbid appearance whatever could be discovered. In collecting the different phenomena exhibited in other recorded cases, they may be reduced to the following: “violet coloured spots over the integuments; abdomen extremely bulky; the tunica conjunctiva of the eye as if it were injected; the pupil contracted; stomach and intestines inflamed, and scattered over with gangrenous spots; and, in some cases, they have exhibited very considerable contractions, so much so as almost to obliterate the canal. In no case have any remains of the mushroom been found. The lungs have been observed inflamed, and gorged with black blood.”
There cannot, however, be any doubt but that the different species of poisonous agarics act very differently.
Antidotes.
In all cases, the first object is to evacuate the offensive matter by emetics. After which, stimulants, especially ammonia, will be found highly serviceable.