TORREYA 



December, 1917. 

 Vol. 17 No. 12 



MUSHROOM POISONING 



By'Beaman Douglass, jVI.D. 

 (Continued from October Torreya) 



III. General Consideration of Poisonifig hy Mushrooms 

 Symptoms of poisoning by mushrooms may arise in four ways: 

 (i) that is, a non-poisonous mushroom may cause trouble by not 

 being digested or (2) if it is stale or decomposed it may develop 

 substances analogous to spoiled meat which produces ptomaine 

 poisoning or (3) certain mushrooms without spoiling if they are 

 not eaten perfectly fresh develop a dangerous poison and lastly 

 (4) the mushroom may be one of the varieties which contain a 

 specific poison as a part of their normal contents and this poison, 

 depending on its character, may cause slight disturbance to the 

 body or serious illness or in other forms it regularly causes death. 

 I. Indigestion. — People differ greatly in their form of digesting 

 mushrooms, in the amount used, and in the opinion regarding 

 the desirability of the mushroom as an article of diet. One man 

 will say they are not fit to eat, another like Theuriet will write 

 "that one might even think he hears the violins of heaven singing 

 while he is tasting a dish of mushrooms." With bigoted absti- 

 nence on the one hand, with gourmandizing and gluttony on the 

 other and perhaps a bad cook in the kitchen even the most inno- 

 cent and well-meaning mushroom will acquire a bad reputation. 

 All this brings us squarely against the question of their nutri- 

 tive value — a fact much boasted by mushroom eaters and vege- 

 tarians who have labeled mushrooms "vegetable meat" and 

 "beefsteak of the poor." Analysis has shown the fresh commer- 

 cial mushroom to contain about 3 to 5 per cent, of protein sub- 

 00 stance, a quantity which makes them most comparable to cabbage 

 ^ [No. II, Vol. 17 of Torreya, comprising pp. 183-206, was issued 30 November, 



1917-] 



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207 



