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are rendered harmless. Roch states that the poison is removed 

 by boiling ten minutes in acidulated (vinegar) water and then 

 even Russula emetica is safe. The negroes of the southern states 

 are said to have learned empirically how to prepare this class, as 

 well as Amanita miiscaria which they eat freely. This method of 

 preparation will be given later. 



The poison is an acid resinoid which has a disagreeable taste 

 or is peppery. The symptoms are violent, but recovery usually 

 ensues within 24 hours. They are the symptoms of a severe 

 cholera infantum (summer diarrhoea). Beginning one hour 

 after ingestion there is nausea, prolonged and severe vomiting, 

 accompanied by abdominal pain and diarrhoea which may be 

 foetid and bloody. If the victim is young or enfeebled such 

 violent purgation may so exhaust the water from the body and 

 the brain that convulsions and death may ensue. Recovery 

 within 24 hours is the usual rule. 



Conclusions. — If boiled in acidulated water (i cup vinegar to 

 pint of water) for ten minutes, washed afterwards and all liquids 

 thrown away, this class may be cooked and eaten with safety, 

 although not without some misgivings unless one is a sophisti- 

 cated and hardened mycophagist. 



Group IV. Mushrooms Affecting Chiefly the Nervous System 

 and the Gastro-Intestinal System. — This group, which like the 

 preceding one is abundant, is made up of Boletus luridus, Amanita 

 cothernata, Amanita muscaria, Amanita pantherina, Clitocyhe 

 illudens, Inocyhe infida and perhaps Pholiota autumnalis. They 

 produce both phenomena of gastro-intestinal irritation and irri- 

 tation of the nervous system. This means that we have ar- 

 rived at a group where special symptoms are present from a poison 

 which affects chiefly the brain and spinal cord. Curiously 

 enough sometimes the intestinal symptoms predominate, some- 

 times these are suppressed and the nervous symptoms are chiefly 

 important. The locality of growth, the season and especially 

 the culinary preparation seem to be responsible for this difference. 



The two chief members of this group are Amanita muscaria 

 (false orange mushroom; fly killing mushroom) and Amanita 

 pantherina, and it is from the ingestion of these that many poison 

 cases arise. 



