12 



equal, stuffed or Lollow, easily' splittiug, floccose, with bulbous base ; volva 

 white, closely embraciug- the stem, but free from it at the margin: ring re- 

 flexed : spores globose, .0003 in. broad. The plant is creamy white through- 

 out and does not seem to be easily distinguishable from the white forms of 

 A. jphalloides. Fries and some others consider this species merely a 

 variety of Amanita phalloides, and it is regarded as equally poisonous, 

 the poisonous principle being the same as that of A. I'yhalloides. It is very 

 common in mixed woods from early spi'ing to frosty weather. 



ALKALOIDS OF THE POISONOUS MUSHEOOMS. 



Schrader, after some experiments made in 1811, stated that the poison- 

 ous principle of the '' Fly mushroom," Amanita muscaria, seemed to be 

 combined with its red coloring matter and might be extracted by water 

 or aqueous alcohol, but that it was not soluble in ether. 



Vaquelin, as the result of more extended investigations made in 1813, 

 expressed the opinion that this poison was not confined to the coloring 

 matter of the mushroom, but that it was an integral part of the fatty 

 constituents not only of rauscuria but of several species of mushrooms. 

 In 1826 and 1830, and again in 1867, important investigations were made 

 and published by Letellier relating to the medical and poisonous proper- 

 ties of mushrooms growing around Paris. Letellier's early investigations 

 led him to the conclusion that there were two poisons contained in cer- 

 tain fungi — (1) an acrid principle easilj^ destroyed by drying or boiling or 

 by maceration in alcohol or in alkaline solution, and (2) a peculiar poison- 

 ous alkaloid found only in certain of the Amanita group. Letellier in 

 1866 named this latter alkaloid amanitin. He then considered it to be the 

 active poison of Amanita mnscaria, Amanita 2^h<:dloides, and Amanita 

 verna, but a subsequent analysis by the German chemists Schmiedeberg 

 and KojDpe showed the amanitin of Letellier to be identical with cholin, 

 a substance found in bile. Kobert says that a7nanitin is non-poisonous 

 in itself, but states that it may be changed on decay of the mushroom to 

 the muscarin-like acting neiirin, which is highly' poisonous. He thinks 

 it highly probable that nearly all of the edible and non-edible mushrooms 

 contain pure amanitin (cholin) partly in primitive condition and partly in a 

 more intricate organic connection, as lecithin. It has been demonstrated 

 that amanitin separates very readily from lecithin during the decay or 

 rareless drying oi mushrooms and changes into the poisonous neurln ; 

 hence the necessity of using mushrooms only when ^^er/'fc^Zy fresh or 

 when quickly dried. 



MUSCARIN. 



To the eminent German chemists Schmiedeberg and Koppe is due 

 the credit of isolating the active poisonous principle of the Fly mush- 



* The earliest account of the separation of the poisonous principles of the mush- 

 rooms of the genus Amanita dates back to the experiments of Apoiger in 1851. 

 Harnack's researches were published in 1876 and those of Huseman in 1882. 



