VOL. XLIII.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 9^ 



nion hastiness, and on inc|uiring the reason, he said, he had experienced- that 

 by throwing in a large quantity of liquid into his mouth at once, his faculty of 

 swallowing became more easy; and that whenever any hindrance happened in 

 the performance, it was not without difficulty that he recovered himself. 



Mr. R. desired he might in nowise be thought to depreciate the efficacy of\the 

 pulv. antilyssus * and cold bath ; for he believed them more generally successful 

 than any other means; yet he thought it clear in the above case, that they were 

 so far from alleviating the complaints, that they tended evidently to promote 

 them ; the patient never making use of the cold bath, but his head-ach increased,'^ 

 and his feverish complaints grew more violent. 



As the contra rabiem powder now stands in the Lond. Pharmacop. it is com- 

 pounded of two dmgs only. Mr. R. had endeavoured to discover what effect 

 might be procured by the liverwort; but on trying it, for experiment's sake, in 

 several different cases, even in large doses, he could never perceive the least alte- 

 ration either in the pulse or secretions. 



A new Species of Fungus.^' By John Martyn, F. R. S. N° 473, p. 263. 



In the latter part of the summer of the year 1 744, a fungus of a very extra- 

 ordinary shape and size, which had been found growing on a piece of the trunk 

 of an elm, in a damp cellar in the Haymarket, was brought to Mr. Martyn. 

 The whole plant was about 2 feet in height, and at first sight seemed not very 

 vmlike the horns of some deer, being variously branched, and covered with a 

 thick down. It was of a spongeous substance, and of a dusky red colour, in- 

 clining to black. The tips of the smaller branches were of a cream colour. 

 The larger branches, or rather the tops of the whole plant, were expanded in 

 form of a funnel, smooth on the concave, and full of pores on the convex side. 

 The inner and lower part of the funnel was of the same colour with the stalk, 

 the rest of it was of a cream colour. 



Mr. M. had not been able to find that this plant has been mentioned by any 

 author, and was persuaded that it is a new species; and perhaps the remarkable 

 branching of the stalks may induce some to think it a new genus. As the funnel 

 may be esteemed a cap, and as this cap is not lamellated, it will be a boletus, 



* Of Dampier, as altered by Dr. Mead. — Orig. 



t Therefore, adds Dr. Mortimer, the secretary, in a note, in myTlies. Inaug. Ludg. B. iZS-t. I 

 proposed the ivse of warm baths ; for by them heat and thirst will be abated, and the blood diluted, 

 not rendered still more thick by sweating, as is the effect of cold baths. See these Trans. N° 443.— 

 Orig. 



J This plant was probably no other than a gigantic specimen of the davaria liiipoxyhn of Linnaeus; 

 though it has sometimes been considered" as a species of boletus. 



oa 



