48 TOXINS AND ANTITOXINS. 



from the juice of the Fly Agaric will kill a guinea- 

 pig weighing 600 grammes in one hour. 



As we have already stated, it is the phalline to 

 which the ordinary disorders which mushrooms 

 cause are due. According to Robert, a 1:250000 

 solution of this substance causes an intense hemol- 

 ysis, with all its disastrous consequences. 



According to Pouchet, the flesh of mushrooms 

 must be compared with meat that has been kept 

 for some time to become tender, and it is well 

 known that though this " tendering " process 

 renders the meat more digestible, it may also allow 

 the meat to acquire noxious properties, due to the 

 presence of toxins. 



Phallin is the type of those toxic albuminoids 

 of unknown composition which exist in mush- 

 rooms, and which are comprised under the name 

 sapotoxins. The intravenous injection of phallin 

 into an animal, in the proportion of i part to 

 i ooo ooo parts of body weight, causes sudden 

 death within one minute; in the proportion of 

 1:5 oooooo, death occurs in about three minutes; 

 in the proportion of i : 50 ooo ooo, death also occurs, 

 but is greatly retarded. An injection of 0.0005 Gm. 

 per kilo of body weight of animal causes solution 

 of the blood corpuscles to such an extent that 

 thirty minutes later the blood serum is strongly 

 colored red, as well as the veins. 



Instead of being easily altered under the influ- 



