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in the least resemble any poisonous variety, and then leave all 

 others strictly alone. Another safe rule is never to eat a mess 

 unless the identification has been checked up by at least one 

 other person. Later we shall turn to this subject again. For 

 the present, remember that a few mushrooms are deadly poison, 

 others (a greater number) dangerous, and that the most deadly 

 ones give only slow evidence of poisoning. It is because of this 

 that when symptoms appear it is too late to offer any antidote. 

 The body is overwhelmed with the poison before it is manifest. 

 As the fatal dose of poison is indeed very small, one poison 

 mushroom in the entire mess may be sufficient to kill a whole 

 family. 



Some investigators have studied poison forms from the mor- 

 phological characters, others from their chemical contents, or 

 have classified them empirically as irritant, dangerous or deadly. 

 Dr. Roch in the abov^e mentioned communication uses a clinical 

 classification. As this is simple, we shall, with slight modifica- 

 cations, adopt it and combine it with the morphological or bo- 

 tanical arrangement. 



Group I. Fungus Exciting Action of Muscle Fiber. — The well- 

 known ergot of rye {Claviceps purpurea) acts in this way and 

 furnishes physicians with a remedy of considerable value. The 

 muscle tissue strongly contracted, especially the muscle of the 

 uterus and of all blood vessels. In acute poisoning by ergotin 

 vertigo, itching, anesthesia, weak pulse, delirium and stupor 

 have been noticed. 



Chronic poisoning, which in the Middle Ages was quite fre- 

 quent, occurred from eating cereals and bread contaminated 

 with ergot. After prolonged ingestion the poisoning assumed a 

 convulsive form or a gangrenous form, in which the fingers and 

 toes sloughed away from insufficient blood. 



Group II. Mushrooms Containing a Haeniolytic Substance 

 {Red Blood Corpuscle Destroyer) . — One mushroom which is said 

 to contain this poison is Gyromitra esculenta. Amanita phalloides 

 also contains it along with other poisons. The poison is called 

 helvellic acid by some, phalline by other writers, and one (Roch) 

 says it is destroyed by cooking and probably by the gastric juice 



