Dr. Hughes of Bovey Tracey, who performed the autopsy, said that he had
found the heart of the deceased very greatly dilated, a symptom
characteristic of poisoning by _Amanita muscaria_.
Harold Coffin, a labourer, gave evidence that he had met with deceased
on the morning of October 17th. He had a satchel slung over his
shoulder, and appeared to be searching for something on the ground. The
time would be about 8 a.m. Deceased was then entering a small wood
situated in the valley below Manaton. The witness had frequently seen
deceased wandering about the country, sometimes with a sketching-easel
and sometimes gathering plants and roots. Deceased had sometimes
conversed with the witness about making a meal of unnatural things, such
as nettles and toadstools, and witness had always supposed him to be a
little peculiar in his head.
Henry Trefusis, a carrier, stated that he had delivered a loaf of bread,
a pound of shin of beef and other provisions to “The Shack,” at 10.30
a.m., on Thursday, October 17th. Deceased had called out to him from the
outhouse to put the goods on the window-sill. As far as he could see and
hear, deceased was then in his usual health and spirits.
Mr. Lathom, recalled, confirmed his previous statement that Mr. Harrison
had spoken to him on the Wednesday evening about his intention of
gathering fungi the next day, and had mentioned a name resembling “Warty
Hats” or “Warty Caps.”
The coroner, in summing up the evidence to the jury, laid stress on the
danger of experimenting in unusual articles of diet. It was notorious,
he said, that other nations, such as the French, were accustomed to eat
many natural products, such as frogs, snails, dandelions and various
kinds of fungi, which in this country were considered unfit for human
food. Such experiments, when conducted by highly expert persons, might
sometimes turn out well, but, on the other hand, nobody was infallible,
and undoubtedly a wise caution was in most cases to be preferred. Sir
James Lubbock had cited some very sad instances of unfortunate children
who had succumbed to the effects of accidentally eating those dangerous
toadstools which unhappily grew in such great profusion in many parts of
the country, and he would like to urge on all parents the advisability
of strictly forbidding their boys and girls to tamper with anything
which they might pick up on their rambles. The present case would serve
as a terrible warning, which he hoped would not soon be forgotten. It
was most unfortunate that, owing to the remote situation of “The Shack”
and the unlucky absence of Mr. Lathom in London, there should have been
no help at hand when the deceased was overtaken by this terrible
accident. The circumstances of his lonely and agonising death were such
as to arouse the deepest compassion for the widow and son of the
deceased.
The jury, after a few minutes’ consultation, brought in a verdict of
Accidental Death, due to poisoning by _Amanita muscaria_. The foreman
said that the jury desired to express their deep sympathy with the
bereaved family. They would also like to add a rider to the effect that
teachers in the schools of the surrounding districts should be
encouraged to warn their pupils against the eating of toadstools, and
that charts displaying the various kinds of poisonous fungi should be
hung in the classrooms.
[An article on Fungi, by Professor Brookes, the distinguished
naturalist, will be found on p. 8.]