PROPERTIES OF CRYPTOGAMIC PLANTS. 53 



quent, especially hj the amanita verna (I'orange eigne), this being 

 more abnndant as we pass to colder regions. Merat & De L., 

 Snj^plem. vol. 1846, 162. 



There are rnles laid down by M. Richard, in the Diet, des 

 Drogues, to guide those who eat mushrooms, in their selection of 

 them. Those should be rejected which have a narcotic or fetid 

 odor, or an acrid, bitter, or very acid taste ; which occasion a 

 sense of constriction in the throat, when swallowed ; which are 

 very soft, liquefying, changing color, and assuming a bluish tint 

 upon being bruised; which exude a milky, acrid, and styptic 

 juice ; which grow in very moist places and upon putrifjdng sub- 

 stances ; in fine, all such as have a coriaceous, ligneous, or corky 

 consistence. The last, however, are injurious, in consequence 

 rather of their indigestible than of their poisonous nature. Even 

 mushrooms which are usually edible, may prove poisonous, if 

 collected too late, or in places which are too moist. It is said, 

 moreover, that the poisonous species sometimes become innocent 

 when they grow nnder favorable circumstances ; and that the 

 most noxious may be rendered edible by boiling them in water 

 acidulated with vinegar. Paulet, in 1YT6, says that salt and vin- 

 egar removed every deleterious principle from that poisonous 

 species, the Ag. huTbosus ; and that the Russians are in the habit 

 of salting their fungi, which may be the cause of their harmless- 

 ness. So, the pickling and subsequent washing of the poisonous 

 agaric of the olive renders it eatable, in the Cevennes. Delile ; 

 Lind., Kat. Syst. Both Pallas (Voyage, i. 65) and Orfila assure 

 US that vinegar will destroy the noxious power of the most dan- 

 gerous. Toxicologic, ii. 89. Merat states that in many provinces 

 of France, in portions of Europe, and particularly in Siberia, the 

 inhabitants live almost exclusively on fungi. The plants, dried for 

 winter use, become articles of considerable commercial import- 

 ance. The remedies for poisoning by eating mushrooms are 

 emetics, accompanied by the free use of warm drinks, and fol- 

 lowed by cathartics. The strength must then be sustained by 

 mild tonics and stimulants. Ether is particularly recommended. 

 U. S. Disp. 1277 ; Merat & De Lens. Chansarel found acids use- 

 less as a remedy, but he thought infusion of galls advantageous. 

 Repert. fiir. die Pharmacie, Ixvi. 117; Christison on Poisons; 

 Lyall's Character of Russians, 556. 1823 ; Letellier, Journ. de 

 Pharm. 1837 ; see art. of Merat & De L. p. 201, vol. ii. for the 

 chief characters of deleterious fungi. 



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