Cases of poisoning by fungi, with remarks / [Alexander Peddie].

  • Peddie, Alexander, 1810-1907
Date:
[1838]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Cases of poisoning by fungi, with remarks / [Alexander Peddie]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    with warm turpentine, wrere now applied over the surface of the body, which was still considerably below the natural tempera¬ ture; and a third dose of the sal volatile was given. Again he was much excited by its exhibition, and continued to vociferate loudly in Gaelic, occasionally interspersed with Spanish, which last language it would appear, he had partially acquired during his service in the peninsular war. At two, he was still very restless, but perfectly manageable, and continued talking loudly and incessantly in Gaelic, imagining him¬ self, as appeared from the interpretation of a person present, in the thick of one of the numerous engagements in which he had really acted during his career as a soldier. Although, however, he did not utter a single syllable in English, he seemed to have the capacity of thinking in it in some measure, for on one occasion he put out his tongue when requested in English to do so. His pulse was still TOO ; his skin warmer; his pupils widely dilated, but contrac¬ tile ; and the subsultus tendinum existed to a considerable de¬ gree. A tablespoonful of the following mixture was now order¬ ed to be given every quarter of an hour. §> Mist. Camphorce, Alcoholis aa ^iv. Tinct. Ammonice Aromat. 5SS- Aqua3 ^ij ,M. At half-past two, his symptoms were as last reported. The stimulant mixture was continued, and other two ounces of castor oil given, as the former doses, amounting to four ounces, were yet retained. I now left him in charge of his friends; and on returning at four found him sitting up in bed, with symptoms ordinarily cha¬ racteristic of delirium tremens. His talk was incessant, and for the most part incoherent. He declared that he never was better in his life, felt no pain, and never had any, but was perfectly hap¬ py, and had just returned from a visit to Heaven, &c. His pulse had now fallen to 96, but was much more full, and the pupils, tongue, and temperature of the surface, were all natu¬ ral. The bowels were copiously moved about half-past three,—- the evacuation being perfectly healthy, and containing no frag¬ ments of the fungi. The stimulating mixture was now ordered to be given only once in the hour. On calling at nine p. m. I found him sitting up in bed, quite sensible and collected, expressing great gratitude for the exertions which he understood had been made for him, and detailing accu¬ rately, as has been given above, the time when he went out in the morning, and what he had done and felt before being carried in¬ to his own house. He declared that he had not experienced the slightest pain in the stomach or bowels, but that the head alone was affected ; that the giddiness.was felt within half an hour af¬ ter the fungi were eaten ; and that altogether the effects produ¬ ced on him, so long as he was conscious, closely resembled those