18 SCIENTIFIC AND APPLIED PHARMACOGNOSY 



Constituents. About 50 per cent or more of resin consisting 

 of 3 or 4 resinous substances; a resin consisting of a red- 

 dish, bitter and pungent principle. /3 resin or agaricinic acid, 

 which is the most important principle. It occurs in yellowish 

 crystals which are slightly soluble in water and ether and very 

 soluble in boiling water or hot alcohol. 7 resin is amorphous and 

 is present from 3 to 4 per cent; 5 resin being a soft resin and in 

 small quantities; it also contains a fatty substance, mannit, a 

 nitrogenous substance, tannic acid, phosphoric acid, malic acid, 

 tartaric acid and oxalic acid. The cellulose varies from 10 to 30 

 per cent and the ash from 1 to 2 per cent, being particularly high 

 in phosphorus. 



Uses. Polyporus and agaricinic acid are official in several of 

 the foreign Pharmacopoeias and used because of their anti-diaphoretic 

 properties, being fully equal to atropine in the effect of suppressing 

 dermic action. 



Literature. Schmieder, Arch, der Phar., 1886, p. 641; Tun- 

 mann, Apoth. Zeit., 1914, p. 120. 



POISONOUS FUNGI 



On account of the high protein content in some of the edible 

 Fungi, varying from 20 to 60 per cent in the dried material of 

 Agaricus campestris, considerable interest has been shown, especially 

 in foreign countries, in teaching their citizens the food value of 

 mushrooms. In this country there are quite a number of persons 

 who make it a practice to gather edible mushrooms and each year 

 there are numerous cases of poisoning reported through the news- 

 papers. This practice will continue and the pharmacist will be 

 frequently called upon to identify the species which has been the 

 cause of poisoning. A very excellent Bulletin has been prepared 

 by Flora W. Patterson and Vera K. Charles of the Bureau of Plant 

 Industry, U. S. Department of Agriculture, entitled "Mushrooms 

 and other Common Fungi." Some of the most common poisonous 

 fungi which are described in this publication are the following: 



AMANITA MUSCARIA. The Fly Amanita. (Very poisonous.) 

 Cap globose, convex, and at length flattened at maturity margin 

 sometimes slightly striate; flesh white, sometimes yellow under the 

 pellicle; remnants of the volva persisting as scattered, floccose, 

 or rather compact scales, color subject to great variation, ranging 

 from yellow to orange, or blood-red, gills white or yellowish, free 

 but reaching the stem; stem cylindrical, at first stuffed, later 



