pound and a half of seeds had no effect on a horse; that three ounces of the juice of the leaves given to a large dog merely caused vomiting; and that a decoction of twelve ounces of leaves, confined in the stomach of a dog by a ligature on the gullet, had also no effect. But two ounces of the juice of the leaves killed a small dog; and Orfila himself ascertained, that thirty-six grains of extract of the leaves, injected into the jugular vein, caused giddiness, stupor, and death.[1]
Accidents have repeatedly happened to children in this country from yew-berries. Mr. Hurt of Mansfield has given the particulars of an interesting case. A child, three years and a half old, two hours after eating the berries, was observed to look ill at dinner, and became affected with lividity and heaviness of the eyes, as if he was about to fall asleep. Vomiting followed, without any pain; and he died before a medical man, who was sent for, could arrive. Four other children, somewhat older, who had eaten the seeds, were made to vomit by emetics, and got well. The dead body of the first child presented many livid spots, redness of the villous coat of the stomach, and gorging of the brain and membranes with blood. A mass of berries, seeds, and potatoes was found in the stomach.[2]—Dr. Hartmann of Frankfort mentions that a girl, who took a decoction of the leaves to produce abortion, died in consequence, but without having miscarried.[3]—Dr. Percival has related other cases in his essays.[4]
CHAPTER XXXIX.
OF THE POISONOUS FUNGI.
A fourth group of poisons possessing narcotico-acrid proper ties, includes
the poisonous fungi or mushrooms.
Accidents arising from the deadly fungi being mistaken for eatible mushrooms are common on the continent, and especially in France. They are not uncommon, too, in Britain; but they are less frequent than abroad, because the epicure's catalogue of mushrooms in this country contains only three species, whose characters are too distinct to be mistaken by a person of ordinary skill; while abroad a great variety of them have found their way to the table, many of which are not only liable to be confounded with poisonous species, but are even also themselves of doubtful quality.
The present subject cannot be thoroughly studied without a knowledge of the appearance and characters of all the fungi which have been ascertained to be esculent, as well as of those which are known to be deleterious. This information, however, I cannot pretend to communicate, as it would lead to great details. In what follows,
