158 ON THE CHEMISTRY AND TOXICOLOGY OF FUNGI. 



are volatile and disappeai*. Extended inquiry into these charac- 

 teristics might enable us to render available a larger number of 

 Funo'i for food ; and it has been shown of what valuable quality 

 that food is. If Fungine were never to be taken into favour as 

 human food, is it not possible that it could be prepared as a food 

 for domestic animals ? 



So little is known, generally speaking, about fungus-poisons, 

 that if a physician were called to a case of fungus-poisoning, he 

 would be quite at sea. Without knowing anything about Fungi, 

 or about the action of their essences, how would it be possible for 

 him to act ? His diagnosis would not tell him what to do ; and if 

 he knew nothing of the special corpus delicti, nothing of the train 

 of symptoms it would set up, how could he make a prognosis at 

 all ? He could only meet such symptoms as he saw, without 

 knowing what might be expected to follow. He would take 

 refuge in the stomach-pump, or emetics, perhaps. In some cases 

 this would be useless, if Amanites or Entolomes had caused the 

 poisoning; in others, if, for instance, Lactars were the agents, such 

 means would but accelerate and increase the disorder — the inflam- 

 mation of the membranes. 



Acute attacks of indigestion, occurring after some meal of 

 which mushrooms have formed a part, have often been set down 

 to fungus-poison. The doctor warns the patient, sapiently ! the 

 patient never again dares to touch a mushroom, and perhaps the 

 local newspaper fulminates on the subject. It might have been the 

 cream, the cucumber, the lobster, or the wine ; but no, the mush- 

 room explains everything to prejudiced opinion ! Again, idiosyn- 

 cracy of temperament occasionally causes what may be Avrongly 

 deemed a case of poisoning. The stomachs of some of us have 

 an antipathy to certain things, which other people eat with 

 impunity. The author well remembers a case of " fungus-poison- 

 ing " apropos to this. He had gathered a basket of Chantarelles 

 and invited a friend to sup with him upon them. The friend was 

 timorous and ate sparingly ; the author devoured the greater part 

 of the dainty dish. A few hours later the friend finds himself 

 " poisoned," vomiting, purging, etc., though the author never felt 

 better. Curious ! People look askance at the author, and for 

 some days blame him severely. At length comes the explanation. 

 The friend was the victim of sei-ious organic mischief. His eco- 

 nomy was in fault, not the Chantarelles. Many wholesome and 

 familiar viands acted similarly upon him. Yet, seriously, mush- 



