192 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL CANADIAN INSTITUTE  [VOL. XII 
‘“‘ Agaricke is good against the pains and swimming in the head, or 
the falling Evill, being taken with syrup of vinegar. 
“It is good against the shortnesse of breath, called Asthma, the 
inveterate cough of the lungs, the Ptysicke, Consumption, and those 
that spit blood: it comforteth the weake and feeble stomacke, causeth 
good digestion, and is good against wormes.”’ 
CHEMISTRY. 
Because of the long-reputed medicinal value of the fruiting body of 
Fomes officinalis, its chemical composition and properties have been 
repeatedly investigated by European pharmacists, indeed, no other 
polypore and few other fungi have been subjected to such exhaustive 
pharmacologic examination. Two characters in this connection are 
known to every collector, namely, the odour of fresh meal that dis- 
tinguishes this plant, and the extremely bitter, quinine-like taste.* 
So characteristic is the latter that I find the fungus named, in a recent 
bulletin for foresters!®, the ‘‘chalky quinine fungus”’. 
Zellner?’7, who has collated the literature on the chemistry of the 
fungi informs us that the following substances have been found in the 
sporophore of this fungus: 
Water—10% (air dry) 
Two hydrocarbons 
A liquid fat, containing no glyceride 
Fatty acids of the formulz Cy4HosO2 and CysH34O3 
A compound CjoH6O0 of an alcoholic nature 
Cetyl alcohol 
A substance of the Ergosterin group 
Oxalic acid 
Succinic acid 
Fumaric acid 
Malic acid 
Tartaric acid 
An organic acid of unknown nature 
Trimethylamine 
Glucose 
Gummy substances (amorphous carbohydrates), about 6.8% 
Fungin 20-30% 
*In one of my collections, a young fruit-body, the taste is at first distinctly sweet, 
and only after some time is the bitter sensation experienced. This is probably not 
exceptional. The same character was noted by Dioscorides and Pliny, and Harz 
(p. 36) also notes that the alcoholic solution of the resin is at first sweetish, then ex- 
tremely bitter. 
