172 
Mycologia 
ployed in cooking, and that individuals dying of Amanita phalloi- 
des intoxication do not show symptoms which are to be ascribed to 
this kind of a poison. Nevertheless, Robert at once jumped to the 
conclusion that this blood-laking substance which he named phallin 
was the essential poison of the plant and his discovery was hailed 
everywhere as one throwing brilliant light upon this most ob- 
scure poisoning. The term phallin has gotten into mycological 
literature all over the world and the idea that Amanita phalloides 
intoxication is due to this remarkable substance which dissolves 
or eats up the blood corpuscles has something so romantic about 
it that few have cared to question the correctness of Robert’s con- 
clusions. Robert himself, however, discovered that blood-laking 
materials were lacking from many specimens which he afterwards 
collected and identified as Amanita phalloides but that the plants 
did contain an alcohol-soluble substance which was extremely 
poisonous to animals. This latter substance he regarded as an 
alkaloid while phallin he placed in the group of protein-like poisons 
known as toxalbumins. 
Subsequent work upon Amanita phalloides has been conducted 
chiefly by American investigators. It was first shown by Ford 21 
that extracts of Amanita phalloides contain the hemolytic material 
described by Robert and in addition a heat resistant body which 
will reproduce in animals the majority of the lesions described in 
fatal cases of Amanita phalloides intoxication in man. These two 
substances were named by him the amanita-hemolysin and the 
amanita-toxin. The further chemical study upon the plant was 
carried out by Abel and Ford , 22 by Schlesinger and Ford 23 and 
Ford and Prouty .- 24 According to their investigations Amanita 
phalloides always contains two poisons, the hemolysin and the 
toxin. The hemolysin is a highly complex glucoside, insoluble in 
alcohol, easily destroyed by heat and by the action of the di- 
gestive juices. While this substance may play a role in cases 
of phalloides intoxication in man there is little or no evidence 
that it does so under ordinary circumstances. It is present in 
such a great amount in the plant, however, that the possibility of 
its having a poisonous action when the fungus is eaten raw or 
when the digestive secretions are altered in character can not 
be entirely eliminated. The active principle of the plant is the 
