98 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXX. No. 760 



the Emperor Charles VI., Berronill of 

 Naples and the widow of the Tsar Alexis. 

 The death of the Emperor Claudius is also 

 assigned to this cause, but the reason and 

 the manner of the accident are not certain. 

 It is related that this worthy emperor 

 wishing to rid himself of an uncongenial 

 spouse, disposed of her by one of the 

 many methods suitable for this beneficent 

 purpose, and promptly took unto himself 

 a younger, but alas, no better helpmate. 

 His second choice failed to appreciate the 

 kindly qualities of the emperor and com- 

 passed his death by substituting poisonous 

 for edible mushrooms in his favorite meal. 

 According to the pure toxicologists the 

 same end was effected by the simple addi- 

 tion of mineral acid to the agarics served 

 at the emperor's dinner, but as a loyal 

 mycologist, I prefer to believe that the 

 wily woman performed the more skilful 

 trick of substitution. 



Next to Paulet, mycologists owe more to 

 Bulliard,' the famous French scientist, 

 who was the fii'st to systematically study 

 and classify mushrooms and many of 

 whose species are accepted to-day. We 

 got from him our name "destroying 

 angel" for the Amanita vema and modern 

 investigation has but confirmed the con- 

 clusions of this fine old savant. In addi- 

 tion to Paulet and Bulliard the list of 

 French authors who have contributed to 

 our knowledge of the toxicology of the 

 subject is long and includes such names as 

 Cordier,* Bardy,= Gillot,' Guillaud," Bour- 



' Bulliard, " Histoire des champignons de 

 France," 1791-1812. 



' Cordier, " Essai sur la toxicitg de quelques 

 champignons avant et apr&s leur dessication," 

 Lyon, 1899. 



" Bardy, Bull. Soc. Philomat. des Vosges, 1883- 

 84, 9. 



° Gillot, " Etude raedicale sur Tenipoisonement 

 par les champignons," Lyon, 1900. 



' Guillaud, Bull. Soc. Mycol. de France, 1885, 



1, p. 123. 



quelot^ and many others, together with the 

 various contributors to the monthly Bulle- 

 tin de la Societe Mycologique de France, 

 now in existence since 1886. Important 

 papers have been published also in Ger- 

 many, in Italy, in England and in this 

 country, and we now have a very consid- 

 erable literature of both clinical and scien- 

 tific interest. 



Amanita Phalloides Bulliard 

 The "white or deadly amanita" is the 

 cause of the greatest number of the cases 

 of mushroom intoxication, if we include 

 in this group the forms described as 

 Am,anita vema, Amanita iulbosa, Amanita 

 alba, Amanita virescens, Amanita mappa 

 and many other species known by various 

 names in different localities. The group 

 is indicated in Germany by the designa- 

 tion " Knollen-blatterschwamm. " Its de- 

 scription and identification need not con- 

 cern us at the present time, since there are 

 many deaths on record with the same symp- 

 toms during life and identical post-mortem 

 findings which indicate that one species, 

 speaking now from the toxicological point 

 of view, is responsible for the poisoning. 

 The intoxication is characteristic in its 

 course and in its result. The fungi are 

 usually eaten by ignorant individuals, 

 who gather what they find in the woods 

 and consume them either raw or after 

 thorough cooking. A small amount of the 

 fresh material is sufficient to cause pro- 

 found illness with fatal outcome, so potent 

 is the poison contained in its meshes, and 

 the raw plant seems usually more toxic 

 than the cooked specimens. Two or three 

 "deadly amanitas" suffice to bring on 

 disastrous results, and Plowright' re- 

 ports the death of a child of twelve from 

 eating a third of the pileus of a small raw 



' Bourquelot, article entitled " Champignons " 

 in Richet's Diet, de phys., Paris, 1898, 3, p. 271. 



• Plowright, Lancet, December, 1879, Vol. 2, p. 

 941. 



