192 SEMI-CENTENNIAL OF TORREY BOTANICAL CLUB 
THE EFFECT OF PANAEOLUS INFUSION ON MUSCLE 
The effect of an infusion of Panaeolus venenosus and of P. 
retirugis was tested on the gastrocnemius muscles of the frog. 
Animals weighing 30-45 gm. were used in these experiments. 
The muscles were excised so that the skin covering was left 
around the muscle to prevent drying out and at the same time 
to form a sac into which the fluids, the effects of which were to 
be studied, could be placed. The method is as follows. The skin 
around the tendon of Achilles was cut. It was then rolled back 
over the gastrocnemius muscle to the knee, the tendon was severed, 
the muscle was carefully lifted away from the tibia and the latter 
was cut off near the knee. The skin was then redrawn over the 
muscle and the cut end of the skin was tied to the tendon so that a 
considerable part of it protruded below the skin. The femur was 
cut off near the hip, leaving the gastrocnemius attached to it. 
The protruding tendon was used as a point of attachment for 
one electrode and the femur for the other. Both gastroc- 
nemius muscles were similarly excised. One skin sac was filled 
with .6 per cent physiological saline which served as a con- 
trol, the other was filled with the mushroom infusion. The 
muscles were then suspended in moist-air chambers as an extra 
precaution and were attached to writing levers. The muscles 
were Simultaneously stimulated electrically at intervals of two 
seconds by single induction shocks and the contractions were 
recorded on a slowly moving drum. The experiments were con- 
tinued until the muscles were completely exhausted. Calculations 
were then made of the duration of the power to contract, the total 
number of contractions, and the total amount of work that was 
performed. The right and left muscles were used alternately for 
the Panaeolus infusion. 
Ten experiments were performed, from which it appears clearly 
that Panaeolus infusion hastens fatigue and reduces the working 
capacity of the muscle. The total number of contractions of 
which the muscle was capable was reduced by 51 per cent 
and the total amount of work by 55 percent. The length of 
time the treated muscle was capable of working was reduced by 
5r percent. The length of time, the total number of contractions, 
and the amount of work done by the normal muscles were each rep- 
