266 



Mycologia 



careful chemical investigation into the causes of the effects ob- 

 served dates back only about two decades, being dependent upon 

 the development of modern methods in organic chemistry. 



As the use of mushrooms in this country for food becomes 

 more general, the practical importance of this subject will be 

 vastly increased, and it may be possible to discover perfect anti- 

 dotes or methods of treatment which will largely overcome the 

 effects of deadly species. This would be a great boon even at 

 the present time, and there will always be children and ignotant 

 persons to rescue from the results of their mistakes. Another 

 very interesting field, both theoretical and practical in its scope, 

 is the use of these poisons in minute quantities as medicines, as 

 has been done with so many of the substances extracted from 

 poisonous species of flowering plants, and even from rattlesnakes 

 and other animals. Thus far, only one of them, the alkaloid 

 muscarine, has been so used. 



The poisons found in flowering plants belong chiefly to two 

 classes of substances, known as alkaloids and glucosides. The 

 former are rather stable and well known bases, such as aconitine 

 from aconite, atropine from belladonna, nicotine from tobacco, 

 and morphine from the poppy plant. Glucosides, on the other 

 hand, are sugar derivatives of complex, unstable, and often un- 

 known composition, such as the active poisons in digitalis, helle- 

 bore, wistaria, and several other plants. 



The more important poisons of mushrooms also belong to two 

 similar classes, one represented by the alkaloid muscarine, so 

 evident in Amanita muscaria, and the other by the deadly prin- 

 ciple in Amanita phalloides, which is known mainly through its 

 effects. Besides these, there are various minor poisons, usually 

 manifesting themselves to the taste or smell, that cause local irri- 

 tation and more or less derangement of the system, depending 

 upon the health and peculiarities of the individual. 



The history of mushroom poisoning reaches back to Babylonia 

 and ancient Rome, and every year since then has added to the 

 list of victims, many of whom have been persons of importance. 

 In some cases, poisonous species were used in committing mur- 

 der. The annual number of deaths in the United States due to 

 mistaking poisonous species for edible ones is probably fifty or 

 more, many of which are not reported. 



