238 ON ANIMAL AND 



they appear within red, full and close; their caps 

 very smooth, soft, and white. They grow in 

 meadows and commons that have a rich soil, 

 and sometimes to a very considerable size; in 

 which case the cap becomes flattened, broad, 

 umbrageous, and the lines within are regular to 

 the stalk and of a deep chocolate colour. 



To try the purity of mushrooms, it is recom- 

 mended to boil with them an onion with the outer 

 coat removed; and should the onion become blue 

 or black, the former is to be discarded as dan- 

 gerous. If the onion remain white, the mushroom 

 may then be considered good and fit for use. 



Whole families are sometimes poisoned, and 

 numerous persons (as we know from daily ex- 

 perience,) have their health most seriously injured 

 by the eating of unwholesome mushrooms. And 

 although we may attribute these effects occasion- 

 ally to an excessive use, or rather to an abuse, 

 of those which are not deleterious; yet we 

 cannot be too cautious in our selection of this 

 luxurious but very dangerous article of diet, as 

 many of the species are rank and positive poisons. 



The general effects of poisonous mushrooms 

 are nausea, great heat and pain in the stomach 

 and intestines, followed by vomiting and cholera, 

 fainting fits, a small, hard, and frequent pulse, 

 delirium, stupor, cold sweats, and if no relief be 

 obtained, death. 



The treatment consists of a quick and decisive 



