The "milk-sick" came to the Lincoln family

[Eva Elisabeth]

Roger, thanks for posting the link to Mr. Steers post. I didn't read it before and also didn't pay much attention on that Nancy was ill for 7 days, but now I find this topic very interesting and did some research. This I found in a veterinarian magazine:

"In humans, the disease begins with a day or two of weakness and debility, followed by loss of appetite, abdominal pain and severe, repeated vomiting. Constipation and unquenchable thirst develop, which are accompanied by repeated drinking and then loss of ingested water by vomiting. Muscular tremors commonly are observed. As the disease progresses, the characteristic odor of acetone appears on the breath. In terminal cases, delirium and coma precede death (Kingsbury, 1964). Mortality ranges between 10 and 25% of diagnosed cases. Fatty degeneration of the liver is the most prominent lesion. When death is prevented, recovery is slow and uncertain, with relapses following moderate exertion. Many subjects who recover are incapacitated for several years or are permanently barred from hard physical labor."

I agree on Mr. Steers' statement: "Nancy 'died on the 7th day after she took sick.' That does not sound like death by neurotoxin."

Nancy "died on the 7th day after she took sick." means she suffered for seven days after the onset. I found no information on the period within which death occurs after the onset of the first symptoms, but like Mr. Steers, I would assume that, IF it turns out to be fatal for the affected person and there's no turning point, it would take less than 7 days, like in many cases of lethal mushroom poisonings. E.g. in case of poisoning due to amanitin, the stage of gastrointestinal upset is followed by severe liver damage and failure of other organs (heart, kidneys etc) which lead to death within 1-3 days.
A German pharmaceutical book focussing on medical plants I have says that the toxic effect of tremetol needs enzymatic activation. This is probably the reason for the period of latency. (This book also states that the disease in English speaking counties is also known as "alkali disease", "puking fever" or "trembles", I wasn't aware of that.)

Personally I, by now, too, doubt Nancy Hanks died from tremetol poisoning and also second Mr. Steer's brilliant argument that this would have affected everyone who drank the milk, whereas the onset and course of bacterial infections much more depend on the individual constitution and immune system.

Mr. Steers, I would be interested in what other scientific literature you have on this topic. The available German literature I've skimmed yet doesn't deal a lot with this since it's less relevant.