PROPERTIES OF CRYPTOGAMIC PLANTS. 69 



Peddle. M. Letellier detected what lie considers the poisonous 

 principle in this, and in the A. verna and hulhosa / and he there- 

 fore calls it Amanatine. " Its effects on animals appear to resem- 

 ble considerably those of opium " (Archives Gen. de Med. xi. 94). 

 Chansarel found that the poisonous principle resided in the juice, 

 and not in the fleshy part after it is well washed. Several French 

 soldiers in Russia eat a large quantity of the A. Tnuscaria, which 

 they had mistaken for A. cmscvrea. Some were not taken ill for 

 six hours and upwards. Four of them, who were very powerful 

 men, thought themselves safe^ because, while their companions 

 were already suffering, they themselves felt perfectly well ; and 

 they refused to take emetics. In the evening, however, they 

 began to complain of anxiety, a sense of suflfocation, frequent 

 fainting, burning thirst, and violent gripes. The pulse became 

 small and irregular, and the body bedewed with cold sweat ; the 

 lineaments of the countenance were singularly changed, the nose 

 and lips acquiring a violet tint ; they trembled much ; the body 

 swelled ; and a profuse, fetid diarrhoea supervened. The extrem- 

 ities soon became livid, and the pain of the abdomen intense ; 

 delirium ensued ; and all four died (Courv., Journ. de Med. xxxi. 

 323, from Yaudrot, Diss. Inaug. sur I'Empois. par les Champ). 

 Several of their comrades were severely affected, but recovered. 

 Two of these had weak pulse, tense and painful belly, partial 

 cold sweats, fetid breath and stools. In the afternoon they be- 

 came delirious, then comatose ; and the coma lasted twenty -four 

 hours. Christison, in citing these cases, remarks that the symp- 

 toms " deep narcotism and violent irritation," are more gener- 

 ally observed in cases of poisoning by the fungi. In a case 

 related by Dr. Beck, where death was occasioned in seven hours 

 by an infusion of the Am. muscaria in milk, the brain was found 

 very turgid ; the whole sinuses of the dura mater, as well as the 

 arteries, were enormously distended with blood ; the arachnoid 

 and pia mater were of a scarlet color * * ; lastly, a clot of blood 

 as big as a bean was found in the cerebellum (Hist, de la Soc. 

 &c. p. 357). Christison on Poisons, p. 709 ; Orfila, Traite des 

 Poisons ; and Lemons de Med. Legale, pi. 14, fig. 1. 



Orfila experimented on a dog with a variety of the A. mus- 

 caria of L. It produced trembling and weakness of the limbs, 

 which continued for four hours ; when the animal fell into a stu- 

 por, the respiration being slow and deep, and every now and then 

 uttered plaintive cries. It would roll itself on the earth, and 



