114 OCCASIONALLY FATAL. 
taste is pleasant, and the victim has no warning of the 
trouble in store until, after some hours, the effects of the 
poison begin to be felt, often too late for remedy. 
The principal poison is phallin, an extremely deadly 
member of the group called toxalbumens, which chemi- 
cally resemble ordinary albumens such as 
white of egg. Like white of egg, phallin 
coagulates if boiled. If the Death Cup were prepared by 
soaking in salt water, in which the phallin is soluble, and 
thoroughly cooked it would produce no harm, but in too 
many cases where this toadstool is mistaken for a whole- 
some mushroom such precautions are not taken and 
fatal results follow. 
Kobert studied the effect of phallin thoroughly in 1891. 
and discovered that the poison acts chiefly on the blood 
corpuscles, which are dissolved. The blood be- 
comes unable to perform its functions, blood 
serum escapes into the intestine, and the vitality of the 
whole system is lowered until death results. The first 
effects do not appear until nine to twelve hours after eat- 
ing, when abdominal pain begins, sometimes accompanied 
by.cramps in the legs, convulsions and lockjaw resembling 
tetanus. Vomiting and diarrhea follow, and these symp- 
toms continue till death, which may not take place for 
from two to four days. “Rice water” stools as in the case 
of cholera, are said to be a characteristic symptom. 
When the poisoning is discovered, care should be taken 
to remove all undigested parts of the toadstool from the 
stomach and intestine. There is no known 
antidote for phallin, but if the symptoms in- 
dicate the presence of muscarin-like substances the drugs 
used in case of poisoning by Fly Agaric should be ad- 
ministered. Blood transfusion with salt solution or with 
The Poison. 
Symptoms. 
Treatment. 
