PROPERTIES OF CRYPTOGAMIC PLANTS 103 



that all of them of whicli the pulp is green or blue, are very dan- 

 gerous, and sometimes fatal. To prove this, he cites cases. Hist, 

 des Champs. Yen. 161. Euripides wrote verses on the death of 

 a mother and three children from eating the Boletus (Athen. 

 JDeijmos, t. 2, ojy. cit.). 



Boletus Satanus. Found in IS". Carolina (H. "W. R.). 



It is a poisonous species, the name having been given to it, 

 Mr. Eavenel informs me, to " brand its diabolical attempt on the 

 life of the botanist who first tried its eatable qualities." 



Boletus larycinus, Berk. Larch Boletus. Sept. 



Under the name Boletus larycis, the U. S. Disp., and Pe- 

 reira, in his M. Med. ii, 46, notice a plant known as the vjJiite 

 agaric, or jpurging agaric of medical writers. The nearest ap- 

 proach to this name is the one above, from the " Crypt, of Eng." 

 The Agaricus larycin-us aj^pears to be an entirely difii'erent plant. 



It has a sweetish, very bitter taste, and consists, according to 

 Braconnot, of seventy-two parts of resinous matter, two of bitter 

 extractive, and twenty-six of fungin, a nutritious, animalized 

 principle, constituting the base of the fleshy substance of mush- 

 rooms. It contains also benzoic acid and various saline com- 

 pounds. In the dose of four or six grains, it is said to act power- 

 fully as a cathartic ; but Lieutaud asserts that it may be given in 

 the quantity of thirty grains or a drachm, without sensibly purg- 

 ing. Diet, des Drogues, i. 201. M. Andral has found it useful 

 in checking the night-sweats of phthisis. De ITaen had also used 

 it for this purpose. He gives it in doses of eight grains, and 

 gradually increases to a drachm during the day, without any 

 observable inconvenience to the digestive functions (Journ. de 

 Pharm. xx. 599). In this country it is scarcely employed, though 

 we have met with it in the shops. U. S. Disp., 1223. Merat & 

 De L. also cite B. laricis of Jacq., Bull., Champ. 353, i. 296. 

 Bouillon Lagrange has discovered in it benzoic acid, a free acid, 

 an animal matter, ammoniacal salts, hydrochlorate of potash, sul- 

 phates, extractives, &c. Ann. de Cliim. li. 75. Tliis can be 

 compared with that of Boulduc, in Mem. de I'Acad. des Sc. 1714, 

 Diet, Some say that it arrests haemoptysis. Under Polyporus 

 officinalis, M. Richard gives the following deduction of M. Bis- 

 son (Archiv. Gen. de Med., Janvier, 1833, p. 159). 1st. It may 

 be employed with advantage in the nocturnal sweats from 



