32 



MANUAL OF POISONOUS PLANTS 



or no value in rendering the muscarin insolu- 

 ble in the stomach. If vomiting has not taken 

 place, recently burned charcoal or two grains 

 of a one per cent alkaline solution of perman- 

 ganate of potash may then be administered, in 

 order, in the cases of the former substance, to 

 absorb the poison, or, in case of the latter, 

 to decompose it. This should be followed by 

 oils and oleaginous purgatives, and the in- 

 testines should be cleaned and washed with an 

 enema of warm water and turpentine. 



"Experiments on animals poisoned by the 

 fly amanita and with pure muscarin show very 

 clearly that when the heart has nearly ceased 

 to beat it may be stimulated to strong action 

 almost instantly by the use of atropin. Its use 

 as thus demonstrated has been the means of 

 saving many lives. We have in this alkaloid 

 an almost perfect physiological antidote for 

 muscarin, and therefore in such cases of poi- 

 soning its use should be pushed as heroically 

 as the symptoms will warrant. The presence 

 of phallin in Amanita muscaria is possible, 

 and its symptoms should be looked for in the 

 red color of the blood serum discharged 

 from the intestines. Its treatment, which 

 is difficult, is discussed under Amanita 

 phalloides. 



"It is well known that in some parts of Europe the fly amanita, after the 

 removal of the poison by treatment with vinegar, is a common article of food. 

 It was interesting to discover not long since that among some of our own 

 people a similar practice prevails. Though most of the colored women of the 

 markets look upon the species with horror, one of them recited in detail how 

 she was in the habit of cooking it. She prepared the stem by scraping, the 

 cap by removing the gills and peeling the upper surface. Thus dressed the 

 mushrooms were first boiled in salt and water, and afterwards steeped in 

 vinegar. They were then washed in clear water, cooked in gravy like ordinary 

 mushrooms and served with beefsteak. This is an exceedingly interesting 

 operation from the fact that although its author was wholly ignorant of the 

 chemistry of mushroom poisons, she had nevertheless been employing a process 

 for the removal of these poisons which was scientifically correct. The gills, 

 according to various pharmacological researches, are the chief seat of the 

 poisonous principles in this plant and their removal at once takes away a large 

 part of the poison. The salt and water would remove phallin or any other 

 toxalbumin the mushroom contained, and although the presence of phallin 

 or any of this class of poisons has not been demonstrated in Amanita muscaria, 

 there is a strong suspicion that it may occur in slight amount. The vinegar, 

 secondly, removes the alkaloid poison, muscarin, and the mushroom after 

 the two treatments is free from poisons. This process is cited, not to recommend 

 its wider use, but as a matter of general interest. The writer's recommenda- 



Fig. 6. Deadly Amanita (Am- 

 anita phalloides}. U. S. Dept. 

 Agrl. 



