Toadstool Poisoning and its Treatment 



terminating fatally the animal seemed to be conscious, but so depressed 

 that it was unable to stand or even move when called. 



Concerning differences in the susceptibility of different animals to the 

 poisons of Amanita muscaria, cats seemed to be more susceptible than 

 dogs in the earlier experiments with extracts of the fresh fungus, but 

 more numerous experiments with the dried fungus failed to show any 

 greater difference than can be observed between different animals of the 

 same kind. 



As to the nature of the poisons very little can be stated from the ex- 

 periments, as they were undertaken as a preliminary step to chemical 

 studies to be carried on later. The alkaloid muscarine is one of our 

 best known poisons and nothing can be added to what is already known 

 about it. The poisons are extracted by distilled water as well as by a 

 solution of sodium chloride ; they are soluble in glycerine and in alcohol 

 and very little difference can be seen in the action of these extracts, un- 

 less the alcoholic extract contains more of the muscarine, while the 

 glycerine extract contains more of the other poisons. 



It is stated that muscarine is not poisonous to flies ; that the Amanita 

 muscaria contains a volatile poison which is poisonous to flies (hence 

 the name "Fly mushroom" ), and which is lost by drying; that inhabit- 

 ants of northern Asia use the dried fungus (after the volatile poison has 

 been lost) for producing intoxication (Von Boeck in Ziemssen's Cyclo- 

 pedia, Vol. VII, p. 927). My experiments have been entirely with 

 mammals and frogs, and unfortunately those performed with the fresh 

 toadstools were not numerous enough to enable me to draw positive 

 conclusions as to any loss of toxicity by drying. A single experiment 

 with a cat seemed to indicate that boiling of the fungus lessened the 

 toxicity but subsequent experiments indicated that a boiled solution was 

 no less toxic than one not boiled. 



One thing we can state definitely; that boiling the dried A. muscaria 

 dbes not destroy its toxicity. This indicates that the poison is not of 

 an albuminous nature, which would be coagulated by heat. 



Whether or not any volatile poison is lost by boiling a solution of the 

 fresh fungus or by drying at 40 C. can not be stated definitely as the 

 experiments made with the fresh fungus were few in number on account 

 of the extreme difficulty in getting them perfectly fresh. 



The average of six observations in which it was possible to weigh 

 the toadstools before and after drying at 40 C. showed a loss of 84.4 

 40 625 



