CONSTITUENTS 87 



surgeon has informed us that upon one or two occasions he 

 successfully employed hypodermic injections of atropin in 

 cases of Fungus poisoning. The effects of the amanita on the 

 human subject are singular. " At first it generally produces 

 cheerfulness, afterwards giddiness and drunkenness, ending 

 occasionally in the entire loss of consciousness. The natural 

 inclinations of the individual become stimulated. The dancer 

 executes a pas d' extravagance, the musical indulge in a song, 

 the chatterer divulges all his secrets, the oratorical delivers 

 himself of a philippic, and the mimic indulges in caricature. 

 A straw lying in the road may become a formidable object, to 

 overcome which a leap is taken sufficient to clear a barrel of 

 ale or the prostrate trunk of an oak." The symptoms are 

 endless in variety, and justify the arrangement of these agents, 

 toxicologically, with narcotico-acrid poisons. 



It is now conceded that glycogen, or " animal starch," is 

 not confined to the animal world, but is also found in Fungi. 

 The asci of the Ascomycetes are completely permeated with it, 

 and at first it is diffused throughout the whole of the young 

 plant, but soon accumulates in the asci, where it is utilised 

 in the development of the spores. 1 It has also been found in 

 the Mucors, in some cases throughout the mycelium and the 

 young sporangia, especially in Phycomyces. The greater part 

 of it is taken up by the protoplasmic contents of the spores. 2 

 The same authority has found it also in the Basidiomycetes. 

 By tracing the passage of glycogen from one part of the plant 

 to another he convinced himself that it plays the same part in 

 the economy as starch in other classes of plants, and that it is 

 the first visible product of the absorption of carbon. It is 

 usually most abundant towards the base of the Fungus, in the 

 vicinity of the soil. Its quantity is greatest at early periods 

 of growth of the Fungus, gradually disappearing with growth, 

 probably from the effect of respiratory combustion. 3 It has 

 been found plentifully in Peziza vesiculosa, in truffles, and in 

 Phallus impudicus. Errara contends that glycogen plays the 

 same part in Fungi that starch does in other plants. It is not 



1 Journ. Soy. Micr. Soc., vol. ii. (1882), p. 824. 



2 Ibid., vol. iii. (1883), p. 397. 



3 Ibid., vol. v. (1885), p. 504 ; vol. vi. (1886), p. 833 ; vol. viii. (1888), p. 96. 



