vulsions, sometimes general, sometimes partial, and unquenchable thirst succeed: the pulse is small, hard, 
and very frequent. When these symptoms, after having continued a certain time, do not diminish in con- 
sequence of the remedies administered, vertigo, stupor, and delirium, affect some subjects, and are only in- 
terrupted by pains and convulsions. In others there is no drowsiness; the pains and convulsions exhaust 
the strength, faintings and cold sweats come on, and death puts a period to this series of suffering, after 
having been foreseen and announced by the patient himself, who has not lost his senses for a single moment. 
Poisonous Fungi do not in general manifest their action till six or eight hours after they are eaten, and 
twelve or sixteen occasionally elapse. In cows and other cattle, they have been known to produce nauseous 
milk, swellings of the abdomen, inflammation of the intestines, obstructions, diarrhoeas and death. In sheep, 
they are said to bring on a scirrhous liver, a cough, general wasting, and dropsy. 
1. Amanita muscaria. In the Toxicologie Gdnerale of M. Orfila, several cases are detailed of the fatal 
effect of this species on the animal economy. Several French soldiers ate, at two leagues from Polosk, in 
Russia, mushrooms of the above kind. Four of them, of a robust constitution, who considered themselves 
proof against the consequences under which their feebler companions were beginning to suffer, refused ob- 
stinately to take an emetic. In the evening the following symptoms appeared: anxiety, sense of suffocation, 
ardent thirst, intense griping pains, a small and irregular pulse, changed expression of countenance, 
violet tint of the nose and lips, with general trembling. These symptoms becoming worse, they were 
carried to the hospital. Coldness and livid colour of the limbs, a dreadful delirium, and acute pains 
accompanied them to the last moment. One of them sunk a few hours after his admission into the 
hospital; the three others had the same fate in the course of the night. Haller relates that six persons of 
Lithuania perished at one time by eating the A. muscaria ; and that in Kamtschatka it had driven others 
raving mad. The inhabitants of the latter country prepare a liquor from it, and from a species of Epilo- 
bium, which, taken in small quantities, inebriates. It has not, however, been clearly ascertained whether 
the species which grows in this country, and in the south of Europe, be the same as that which is found in 
Kamtschatka. The properties of this variety are exceedingly curious, and have been fully described in an 
Essay by Dr. Langsdorf, quoted by Dr. Greville. The inhabitants of the north-eastern parts of Asia use 
it in the same manner as ardent spirits, or wine, to produce intoxication. These fungi are collected in the 
hottest months, and hung up by a string in the air to dry; some dry of themselves on the ground, and are 
said to be far more narcotic than those artificially preserved. Small deep-coloured specimens, thickly 
covered with warts, are also said to be more powerful than those of a larger size and paler colour. 
The usual mode of taking this fungus is to roll it up like a bolus, and swallow it without chewing, 
which the Kamschatdales say, would disorder the stomach. It is sometimes eaten fresh in soups and 
sauces, and then loses much of its intoxicating property; when steeped in the juice of the berries of Vac- 
cinium uliginosum, its effects are those of strong wine. One large, or two small fungi, is a common dose to 
produce a pleasant intoxication for a whole day, particularly if water be drank after it, which augments the 
narcotic principle. The desired effect comes on one or two hours after taking the fungus. Giddiness and 
drunkenness result from the fungus, in the same manner as from wine or spirits. Cheerful emotions of the 
mind are first produced, involuntary words and actions follow, and sometimes at last an entire loss of con- 
sciousness. It renders some remarkably active, and proves highly stimulant to muscular exertion; with too 
large a dose, violent spasmodic effects are produced. 
So very exciting to the nervous system, in some individuals, is this fungus, that the effects are often 
very ludicrous. If a person under its influence wishes to step over a straw, or small stick, he takes a stride 
or a jump sufficient to clear the trunk of a tree; a talkative person cannot keep secrets or silence; and one 
fond of music is perpetually singing. 
Linnaeus says, that flies are killed by this fungus, when infused in milk, hence its name muscarius; and 
the same author also tells that the expressed juice, rubbed on walls and bedsteads, effectually expels bugs. 
In the north of Europe, it is sometimes administered in doses of from ten to thirty grains, by the vulgar 
in epilepsy, palsy, and as an application to foul ulcers. More recently a tincture of it has been employed 
internally by M. Reinhard, for scaly affections of the skin, and in obstinate expectorations, both mucous 
and purulent. The dose is from thirty to forty drops in any proper vehicle. 
