162 
eaten a very profound eae: ee s and death may 
occur within 48 hours e mo: “phalloides”’ intoxi- 
cation is extremely high: varying poem oe to 100 per cent., and 
is dependent somewhat upon the amount of the poisonous 
material ingested and probably somewhat upon the treatment. 
It requires surprisingly small quantities, however, to bring on 
from eating one or two good-sized specimens. Plowright has 
reported the death of a child of ten years from the consumption 
of about a third of the top of a small plant eaten raw. Recovery 
after ingestion of any peat of Amanita phalloides es be 
regarded as extremely rare but not impossible. Ther no 
difficulty in ee between a poisoning Fee to ee 
fungus from one due to other species such as plea muscaria 
since the entire clinical course of the disease is diffe 
Autopsies upon individuals killed by Amanita pee have 
been carried out by a number of observers but our knowledge of 
the lesions is by no means satisfactory. There is little to be 
found to account for the violent paroxysms of pain, vomiting, 
and diarrhoea. Death seems to be due to the extreme fatty 
degeneration of the liver. The poisoning resembles most closely 
phosphorus poisoning (For 
Poisonous constituents 
Modern knowledge of the properties of this plant dates from 
the work of Kobert, who established the important fact that 
extracts of Amanita phalloides contain a substance which lakes 
or dissolves the blood corpuscles of many animals and of man. 
Subsequent work upon Amanita phalloides has been conducted 
chiefly by American investigators. It was first shown by 
that extracts of Amanita phalloides contain the hemolytic material 
described by Kobert and in addition a heat resistant body which 
will reproduce in animals the majority of the lesions described in 
fatal cases of Amanita abate intoxication in man. 
two substances were named b the amanita-hemolysin and 
the amanita-toxin. The active pene of the plant is the 
alcohol-soluble toxin. This resists the action of heat, of drying, 
