FUNGI. 369 
sonous fungus. Seneca, the friend of Serenus, had 
an intense aversion to the whole tribe. He says: 
‘Do you think that those do/eti—a pleasant poison 
—Aalbeit they hurt not now, concoct within them 
no hidden mischief?’ Nero, with villanous irony, 
called them the ‘food of the gods” Upon what 
the poisonous. properties of fungi depend is not 
known. Two active substances have been recog- 
nised in them. When distilled with water they 
yield a fugacious acrid principle, dispelled in the 
act of drying, or by immersion in acids, alkalies, or 
alcohol. When extracted by water and alcohol, 
a brown, solid substance called amanitine is ob- 
tained, which is more fixed, and resists such pro- 
cesses. The specific action of these two'constitu- 
ents of the poisonous fungi upon the human frame 
has not as yet been investigated. They some- 
times act like narcotics, producing comatose and 
other affections of the nervous system, and at 
other times their action is of an irritant nature, 
more approaching that of arsenic. Some act as 
anesthetics, giving complete insensibility to pain ; 
‘while, unlike chloroform and ether, the individual 
under their influence remains conscious all the 
time. The common puff-ball deprives the patient 
of speech, motion, and sensibility to pain, while he 
is still conscious of everything that happens around 
him ; thus realizing that nightmare of our dreams 
2A 
