Leucosporae 



of the family are not only edible but delicate and sapid, far better will Amanita. 

 it be to leave all alone than to make a mistake. A piece of a poison- 

 ous variety the size of a dime will often cause serious disorders if eaten. 

 Many persons have died from eating very small quantities. 



Because of its ovate or button-like form when young, it is frequently 

 mistaken for the common field mushroom; even experienced mycoph- 

 agists have been deceived by it. No other poison has so puzzled 

 scientists. Other varieties of fungi may interfere with digestion, but to 

 the Amanitae all deaths from toadstool-eating are traceable. Its subtle 

 alkaloid is absorbed by the system, and in most cases lies unsuspected 

 for from six to twelve hours, then its iron grip holds to the death. For 

 centuries it has defied all remedies. The problem has been partially 

 solved. At Shenandoah, Pa., August 31, 1885, a family of five were 

 poisoned by toadstools ; two died, three lived. Noting the sad account 

 in the newspapers, I at once wrote to Shenandoah for specimens of the 

 fungi eaten and a description of the treatment. I promptly received 

 from Dr. J. E. Schadle (now Professor Schadle), the physician in 

 charge of the cases, a box containing two harmless varieties and sev- 

 eral fine specimens of the Amanita phalloides, all of which were gath- 

 ered on the same spot and by the same person who gathered the toad- 

 stools doing the poisoning. They told the tale. A remarkably full 

 and interesting account of the cases was sent to me by Dr. Schadle. 

 After exhausting all other remedies, and after two of the five had died, 

 he administered subcutaneously, by hypodermic injection, sulphate of 

 atropine a product of the deadly nightshade analagous to belladonna 

 rir to -^Q of a grain at a dose. It proved to be an antidote and 

 saved the lives of the remaining three. 



The action of atropine in arresting the deadly work of poisoning by 

 amanitine had been foreshadowed by Schmidberg and Koppe, and 

 dwelt upon in numerous published articles by Mr. Julius A. Palmer, to 

 whom more than any other is due the branding of the murderous mem- 

 bers of the Amanita family; but for the first time atropine was used 

 upon the human system to ward their blows. 



All of the species herein described are found in-the United States. 

 Of the twenty-seven, nine are edible, nine are either known to be deadly 

 or are so closely allied to deadly species that it is unsafe to class them 

 as other than poisonous until absolute proof is obtained of their harm- 



5 



