104 



SCIENCE 



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



toms and termination the species eaten 

 must have been niitscaria. 



These two cases are not typical of this 

 intoxication. In the majority of instances 

 Amanita muscaria has a bitter, unpleasant 

 taste and on this account is not eaten in 

 great quantity. Consequently the intoxi- 

 cation is not so profound and the fatalities 

 are fewer in number. Moreover the action 

 of the poison is mainly directed against 

 the nerve centers and if this action be 

 neutralized by atropine, or if the nerve 

 centers are not completely overwhelmed, 

 its effect gradually wears oi¥, without any 

 permanent lesion. Not so with Amanita 

 phalloides, where the amanita-toxin is the 

 cause of such profound degeneration in 

 the internal organs, heart, kidney and 

 muscles, as to make recovery a far more 

 arduous task for nature to accomplish. 



The active principle of Amanita mus- 

 caria is muscarine, an alcohol-soluble crys- 

 talline substance first isolated from this 

 species by Schmiedeberg and Koppe-* and 

 usually classed with the ammonia bases. 

 It will reproduce in animals the intoxiea- 

 cation seen in man and is without doubt 

 the chief poison present. Muscarine has 

 also been prepared synthetically, by the 

 oxidation of choline, but the artificial body 

 does not produce quite the same symptoms 

 and it is easily decomposed. Moreover 

 muscarine is apparently not the only poi- 

 son present in this plant. It has been 

 shown on clinical grounds that even when 

 this drug is completely neutralized by its 

 perfect physiological antidote, atropine, 

 the patients who have eaten Amanita mvs- 

 caria sometimes die, and Harmsen, from a 

 series of carefully conducted experiments, 

 concludes that another poison exists in 

 Amanita muscaria, the so-called "Pilz- 

 toxin." This fungus is probably most 



" Schmiedeberg and Koppe, " Das Muskarin," 

 Leipzig, 1869. 



widely known from the habits of the peas- 

 ants of the Caucasus who prepare from it 

 an intoxicating beverage which produces 

 wildly riotous drunkenness. Death from 

 a muscarine orgy is not uncommon in this 

 part of Russia and a member of the ruling 

 family is said to have lost his life in that 

 way. Amanita muscaria collected in the 

 Caucasus is said to be deficient in mus- 

 carine, but the universal testimony of 

 medical writers would indicate that this is 

 not the case, but that rather a kind of 

 tolerance develops among the habitual 

 users of the muscaria decoctions. We do 

 not know, however, whether muscarine is 

 present in Amanita muscaria in the same 

 quantity at different periods of the year 

 nor have we any knowledge of the effect 

 of soil and climate upon its distribution. 

 The only antidote for this poisoning is 

 atropine, which, however, is so potent in 

 this respect as to almost completely neu- 

 tralize the muscarine and hence the out- 

 look in this intoxication is far more hope- 

 ful than in any other. 



RARELY POISONOUS SPECIES 



Amanita pantherina De CandoUe, a 

 species closely resembling Amanita mus- 

 caria, is occasionally the cause of mush- 

 room poisoning, but the intoxication is not 

 profound and but rarely does death ensue. 

 The symptoms come on within a few hours 

 after eating, and consist of great excite- 

 ment, delirium, convulsions and a peculiar 

 drunkenness not unlike that described 

 among the Koraks. The Japanese variety 

 is sa,id by Inoko-° to represent Amanita 

 muscaria for Japan, being used there as a 

 fly poison in place of the latter species, 

 which is rare and devoid of any poisonous 

 quality. Inoko has isolated muscarine 

 from this Japanese Ama/)iita pantherina 



^ Inoko, Mittheil. a. d. Med. Fac. de K. Jap. 

 Vniv. Tolc, 1890, 1, No. 4, pp. 313-331. 



