330 SOME POISONOUS VARIETIES. 



partake of it. Six hours afterwards, these animals, who are 

 so tenacious of life, were dead. 



Haller, in his "Histoire des Plantes Vene'neuses de la 

 Suisse," says that " the Agaricus muscarius (Amanita muscaria) 

 cannot be eaten with impunity, six Lithuanians having died of 

 it ; and in Kamtschatka it has been known to excite deadly 

 attacks of delirium, accompanied by so deep a despondency, 

 that those who have eaten of it would fain fling themselves 

 into the fire, or fall upon their knives or daggers." This, 

 however, we take to be an exaggeration. The truth is, that in 

 Kamtschatka it is used to produce intoxication ; and such is its 

 strength, it imparts an intoxicating property to the urine of those 

 who swallow it. When the fungus itself is not at hand, the 

 would-be drunkard frequently resorts to this nauseous potion. 



The flesh of the Amanita is not yellow. Yet Vicat speaks 

 of poisonings produced by the Yellow Amanita. " I had much 

 difficulty," says this physician, "in saving two families of 

 Lausanne, poisoned through eating a very small quantity of 

 mushrooms, which the father in the one case, and the mother 

 in the other, had mistaken for Agarid Casarei, though they 

 were both esteemed great connoisseurs, and especially in this 

 species ; nor had they been once deceived for upwards of 

 thirty years, until they indulged themselves in this delicious but 

 deceitful dish." 



These poisonings could have been occasioned only by the 

 Amanita. Some varieties exist, in which the under surface of 

 the pileus is yellow, but the flesh is white. To one of these 

 varieties Vicat's anecdote probably refers. 



