Ford and Clark: Properties of Poisonous Fungi 173 
alcohol-soluble toxin. This resists the action of heat, of dry- 
ing, and of the digestive juices and reproduces in animals the 
lesions of phalloides intoxication in man. Chemically, the toxin 
cannot be characterized definitely but the purest preparations do 
not give the reactions of either proteins, glucosides, or alkaloids. 
Fungi cooked by the same methods which are employed in the 
kitchen are entirely free from hemolysin but have a poisonous 
action upon animals which is identical with that seen with the 
amanita-toxin. With our present knowledge the amanita-toxin 
may be regarded as the active principle or essential poison of 
Amanita phalloides. 
Treatment 
There is no satisfactory method of treating individuals poisoned 
by the deadly amanita. It is essential that competent medical 
advice be obtained as soon as possible and every effort made to 
rid the alimentary canal of the noxious material in the hope of 
doing so before enough poison is absorbed to bring on fatal results. 
Active emetics and purgatives should be administered at once and 
in case these are not effective the stomach should be washed out 
and the lower bowel irrigated. Even then, it is frequently impos- 
sible to prevent the absorption of the poison which takes place 
with great rapidity. In the later stages stimulants should be em- 
ployed with great freedom in the hope of tiding the patient over 
the periods of weakness. Narcotics should be employed to relieve 
the intense pain and whenever convulsive movements are seen. 
Atropin has no effect in Amanita phalloides intoxication and no 
reliance should be placed upon the drug in poisoning by the deadly 
amanita. Efforts to manufacture a curative serum by the im- 
munization of animals with the poisons in this fungus have thus 
far been unsuccessful. 
Poisoning by Other White Amanitas 
A number of other amanitas have poisonous properties identical 
in all respects with Amanita phalloides. The most important of 
these are Amanita verna, the “ destroying angel ” of Bulliard, which 
is far more common in America than the true Amanita phalloides, 
Amanda virosa Fries, Amanita spreta Peck and Amanita phal- 
loides variety citrina. All these species are recognized to be deadly 
