, ate a little of them, and the sippets of bread which were put
into the liquor. Within five minutes after eating them, the man began to
stare in an unusual manner, and was unable to shut his eyes. All
objects appeared to him coloured with a variety of colours. He felt a
palpitation in what he called his stomach; and was so giddy, that he
could hardly stand. He seemed to himself swelled all over his body. He
hardly knew what he did or said; and sometimes was unable to speak at
all. These symptoms continued in a greater or less degree for
twenty-four hours; after which, he felt little or no disorder. Soon
after he perceived himself ill, one scruple of white vitriol was given
him, and repeated two or three times, with which he vomited plentifully.

"The woman, aged thirty-nine, felt all the same symptoms, but in a
higher degree. She totally lost her voice and her senses, and was either
stupid, or so furious that it was necessary she should be held. The
white vitriol was offered to her, of which she was capable of taking but
very little; however, after four or five hours, she was much recovered:
but she continued many days far from being well, and from enjoying her
former health and strength. She frequently fainted for the first week
after; and there was, during a month longer, an uneasy sense of heat and
weight in her breast, stomach, and bowels, with great flatulence. Her
head was, at first waking, much confused; and she often experienced
palpitations, tremblings, and other hysteric affections, to all which
she had ever before been a stranger.

"The child had some convulsive agitations of his arms, but was otherwise
little affected. He was capable of taking half a scruple of ipecacuanha,
with which he vomited, and was soon perfectly recovered."

MUSHROOM CATSUP.

The edible mushroom is the basis of the sauce called mushroom catsup; a
great proportion of which is prepared by gardeners who grow the fungi.
The mushrooms employed for preparing this sauce are generally those
which are in a putrefactive state, and not having found a ready sale in
the market; for no vegetable substance is liable to so rapid a
spontaneous decomposition as mushrooms. In a few days after the fungus
has been removed from the dung-bed on which it grows, it becomes the
habitation of myriads of insects; and, if even the saleable mushroom be
attentively examined, it will frequently be found to swarm with life.

FOOTNOTES:

[114] Fungi pleriqu