PROPERTIES OF CRYPTOGAMIC PLANTS. 69 



of the same miislirooms did not produce any serious consequences, 

 but a small dose of the residue sufficed to poison two dogs. The 

 aqueous extract also caused death. Water, in which many of 

 these mushrooms were macerated, charged with the deleterious 

 principle, produced bloody evacuations; but the animal did not die. 

 Alcohol, ether, vinegar, wine, and salt and water, had the prop- 

 erty of dissolving the poisonous matter ; these different liquids 

 acquiring thus a very intense deleterious action, and causing 

 death in animals in less than twenty -four hours. Tlie facts con- 

 tained in the work of Paulet, and in certain scientific reviews, 

 prove that the influence of these plants upon man is not less dan- 

 gerous. 



M. Guibert, his wife, her daughter, two boys, and a domestic, 

 eat at dinner a quantity of the citrine amanita. About three hours 

 after, Madame G. was prostrated by its eff"ects, suffered from nausea, 

 vomiting, and continued sleepiness. Upon taking an emetic she 

 vomited portions of the mushroom, and was relieved, though it 

 was several hours before she entirely recovered. M. Guibert 

 himself was attacked by a severe cholera morbus, and very painful 

 cramps. There was no fever in either of these cases. All except 

 M. Guibert were in a stupified state. The daughter and the boys, 

 who had refused the emetic, died. A cat, which had also eaten 

 some portion, almost died from the eff'ects. 



Observation '^d. M. Benoit, his wife, her daughter and in- 

 fant, eat, at six o'clock in the evening, of the Amanita j>rint<Miier 

 {Agaric veneneux of Roques), which were gathered in the woods 

 near Boulogne. On the next day they suffered from nausea, 

 anxiety, and frequent faintings. On giving to the father and the 

 child milk, ether, and a strong dose of an emetic, abundant vomit- 

 ing was induced. They were upon the point of giving the same 

 to the mother, when she suffered from a flow of blood and con- 

 tinued prostration. The child was nearly dead when Dr. Paulet 

 arrived. The father was found in a state of permanent anxiety 

 and stupor ; his stomach was tense, extremities cold, and pulse 

 weak and intermitting. His whole body was livid, and he died 

 a few minutes after. The mother vomited abundantly ; her com- 

 plexion was pale and cadaverous, and there was constant weak- 

 ness and anxiety. Upon giving an ordinary purgative, after two 

 or three hours she evacuated portions of the plant, and an abund- 

 ance of yellow mucus. She took the milk with orange-flower 

 water and a few drops of ether, which gave much relief. The 



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