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There is a tradition in this country and Europe that treating 
Amanita muscaria (Coville) with vinegar and salt water removes 
the poisonous constituents. This treatment if repeated several 
times would probably remove muscarin and similar substances 
but the danger from incomplete extraction of the poison is still 
too great to recommend its use. In the case of Amanita phal- 
loides, Radais and Sartory have shown that such treatments do 
not reduce the toxicity of the fungus in spite of popular belief 
to the contrary. There is little doubt that in some countries 
people habitually eat Amanita muscaria in small quantities, both 
treated and untreated, with no apparent signs of poisoning, but 
this does not warrant us in ever allowing ourselves to experiment 
upon the edibility of such poisonous fungi. Generally, in this 
country, no one eats Amanita muscaria Se a its well known 
dangers. In some of our investigations (Clark and Smith) on 
American specimens of this plant from different localities we 
found apparently great differences in toxicity, possibly due to 
local variation. Furthermore, under certain conditions, heat 
may destroy the poisons in Amanita muscaria as reported by 
Ford and others, but neither does this observation warrant us in 
concluding that the dangers from eating this fungus are over- 
estimate 
The free necessary prophylactic measure is to impress upon 
mushroom lovers that there is no easy ieee test to pris 
between the edible and poisonous fun. No one should eat a 
amiliar mushroom until it has ee identified as a aes 
species by a Sonat mycologist. It is not difficult to learn 
to know fungi at a glance if one is willing to study them closely 
and to remember the points of difference, in form, color, and habit 
among the various species. Unfortunately, there are a few 
“mushroom handbooks” in this country, which are unfailing 
sources of misinformation, and they have evidently been written 
by people of no training and poor judgment. In one case, color 
plates of Amanita muscaria and Amanita caesaria have the names 
of these two species transposed. Identifications based on 
pictures are dangerous unless the publication of such unreliable 
books is prevented. After all, the number of poisonous species 
