See quotations.
1823. They have a disease called the milk sickness; it commences with nausea and dizziness, succeeded by headache, pain in the stomach and bowels, and finally, by a prostration of strength, which renders the patient unable to stand; a general torpor soon ensues, succeeded by death.—E. James, ‘Rocky Mountain Expedition,’ i. 82 (Phila.). (Italics in the original.)
1834. I passed a deserted village, the whole population of which had been destroyed by the “milk-sickness.”—C. F. Hoffman, ‘A Winter in the Far West,’ (1835), ii. 66. (N.E.D.)
1838. A mysterious disease, called the “milk sickness”—because it was supposed to be communicated by that liquid—was once alarmingly prevalent in certain isolated districts of Illinois.—E. Flagg, ‘The Far West,’ ii. 203 (N.Y.).
