DEADLY NIGHTSHADE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21881, 17 August 1934, Page 5

DEADLY NIGHTSHADE

ACCIDENTAL POISONINGS STRANGE COINCIDENCE Two cases of accidental wholesale poisoning with the same poison occurred recently in England. Belladonna, mistaken for tea in one case and liquorice in the other, was the cause of the trouble, which, fortunately, did not have fatal results in either case. One of the cases occurred in Newcastle and the other in Leicester. Eleven women and five men of the staff of a firm of manufacturing chemists in Newcastle collapsed following the drinking of what they thought was tea. No fewer than 28 members of the staff were hurried to the infirmary. The managing director was unconscious for a long time after admission. His was the most serious case admitted. In accordance with the daily custom tea was served shortly before four o'clock. Half an hour later a member of the office staff staggered into another part of the premises, gasping that she was feeling unwell. She collapsed. Employees in the chemical departments hurried into the office and a remarkable sight met their eves. With one exception the entire staff were in a state of collapse, either lying on the floor or huddled over their desks. Emetics were given and the affected persons were sent to hospital. A member of the hospital staff said that belladonna was obtained in root or leaf form. If cut small enough it could look like tea. A great deal of belladonna was used in the manufacture of medicines and other chemical and surgical materials. In the Leicester case 11 men employed at a tyre works found what they believed was a quantity of liquorice and shared it. In fact, it was the dried root of the deadly nightshade. Two of the men taken to hospital for treatment missed death hv minutes, in the view of tin.' doctors. One man went to the infirmary on a bicycle when he realised his danger, and collapsed in the entrance. He has no recollection of his wild race with death, A quantity of belladonna is stated to have fallen from a lorry Outside the tyre works when in transit to a firm of manufacturing chemists.