3. That in atropine we have an antidote, and it should be pushed heroically from the earliest inception of the action of the poison.
I have the honor to remain
Yours very respectfully,
J. E. Shadle, M.D.
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 follows:
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.
Amanitine and atropine
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-half to two platefuls. 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.