214 



Mycologia 



" My wife, 25 years old, ate one whole slice of toast with mush- 

 rooms, two half eggs stuffed, with lettuce and mayonnaise, tea, 

 bread and butter. About half an hour later she felt nauseated 

 and dizzy and lay down. I gave her five glasses of warm water, 

 after which she vomited the egg, but saw no mushrooms. She 

 then took castor oil. 



" Mrs. A., 65 years old, ate the same amount of mushrooms, 

 several slices of bread and butter, a cup of tea, but no eggs nor 

 salad. When asked, said she felt slight indigestion, but other- 

 wise well. 



" My son, 5 years old, ate same amount, but no eggs nor salad. 

 Immediately after lunch he had a diarrheal movement containing 

 mushrooms. He was given ipecac and warm water and vomited 

 some mushrooms. 



" Sophie, maid, aged 30, tasted mushrooms. Felt nauseated 

 soon after. Given mustard and water, but did not vomit. Later, 

 castor oil and was purged and somewhat prostrated. Hattie, 

 maid, aged 38, tasted mushrooms. Belched gas soon after. Not 

 sick. Esther, maid, aged 24, tasted ; no effects. 



" There was no peculiar taste to the cooked mushrooms, per- 

 haps a very evanescent bitterness in the raw state. I thought 

 perhaps the combination of the eggs and mayonnaise with the 

 mushrooms had something to do with the effects, as my wife 

 and I, the only ones who ate both in any amount, were the chief 

 sufferers. In my case the beating of the heart, full head and 

 sweating were very marked, though I ate but half as much as the 

 others." 



It is impossible to tell until a chemical analysis is made just 

 what poison this mushroom contains. It is probably not narcotic, 

 as in the case of the deadly amanita, since the effects appear too 

 quickly. On the other hand, there is nothing in the taste of the 

 mushroom, according to my own experiments with fresh speci- 

 mens, to suggest an irritating poison. It is altogether likely that 

 this species, belonging as it does to a group quite different from 

 any heretofore recognized as containing poisonous species, will 

 be found to contain a new poison with effects heretofore un- 

 described. 



New York Botatical Garden. » 



