Chapter II: Part 2

It may be said that any mushroom, _omitting the Amanita_, which is pleasant to the taste and otherwise agreeable as to odor and texture when raw, is probably harmless, and may safely be thus _ventured on_ with a view of establishing its edibility. A prominent authority on our edible mushrooms, already mentioned, applies this rule to all the Agarics with confidence. "This rule may be established," he says: "All Agarics--_excepting the Amanitæ_--mild to the taste when raw, if they commend themselves in other ways, are edible." This claim is borne out in his experience, with the result, already told, that he now numbers over one hundred species among his habitual edible list out of the three hundred which he has actually found by personal test to be edible or harmless. "So numerous are toadstools," he continues, "and so well does a study of them define their habits and habitats, that the writer _never fails upon any day from April to December to find ample supply of healthy, nutritious, delicate toadstools for himself and family_." The italicized portion is my own, as I would thus emphasize the similar possibilities amply afforded even in the present condensed list of about thirty varieties herein described.

[Sidenote: =Hints to mushroom-gatherers=]

In gathering mushrooms one should be supplied with a sharp knife. The mushroom should be carefully cut off an inch or so below the cap, or at least sufficiently far above the ground to escape all signs of dirt on the stem. They should then be laid gills upward in their receptacle, and it is well to have a special basket, arranged with one or two removable bottoms or horizontal partitions, which are kept in place by upright props within, thus relieving the lower layers of mushrooms from the weight of those above them. Such a basket is almost indispensable.

[Sidenote: =Insects infesting mushrooms=]

Before preparing mushrooms for the table, the specimens should be carefully scrutinized for a class of fungus specialists which we have not taken into account, and which have probably anticipated us. The mushroom is proverbial for its rapid development, but nature has not allowed it thus to escape the usual penalties of lush vegetation, as witness this swarming, squirming host, minute grubs, which occasionally honey-comb or hollow its entire substance ere it has reached its prime; indeed, in many cases, even before it has fully expanded or even protruded above ground.

[Sidenote: =History of fungus insects=]

Like the carrion-flies, the bees, and wasps, which in early times were believed to be of spontaneous origin--flies being generated from putrefaction, bees from dead bulls, and the martial wasps from defunct "war-horses"--these fungus swarms which so speedily reduce a fair specimen of a mushroom to a melting loathsome mass, were also supposed to be the natural progeny of the "poisonous toadstool." But science has solved the riddle of their mysterious omnipresence among the fungi, each particular swarm of grubs being the witness of a former visit of a maternal parent insect, which has sought the budding fungus in its haunts often before it has fully revealed itself to human gaze, and implanted within its substance her hundred or more eggs. To the uneducated eye these larvæ all appear similar, but the specialist in entomology readily distinguishes between them as the young of this or that species of fly, gnat, or beetle.

As an illustration of the assiduity with which the history of these tiny scavenger insects has been followed by science, I may mention that in the gnat group alone over seven hundred species have been discovered and scientifically described, many of them requiring a powerful magnifier to reveal their identities.

Specimens of infected or decaying mushrooms preserved within a tightly closed box--and, we would suggest, duly quarantined--will at length reveal the imago forms of the voracious larvæ: generally a swarm of tiny gnats or flies, with an occasional sprinkling of small glossy black beetles, or perhaps a beautiful indigo-blue insect half an inch in length, of most nervous habit, and possessed of a long and very active tail. This insect is an example of the curious group of rove-beetles--_staphylinus_--a family of insect scavengers, many of whose species depend upon the fungi for subsistence.

Even the large woody growth known as "punk" or "touch-wood," so frequently seen upon decaying trunks, is not spared. A huge specimen in my keeping was literally reduced to dust by a single species of beetle.

[Sidenote: =A wise precaution=]

Considering the prevalence of these fungus hosts, it is well in all mushrooms to take the precaution of making a vertical section through stem and cap, excluding such specimens as are conspicuously monopolized, and not being _too_ critical of the rest, for the over-fastidious gourmet will often thus have little to show for his morning walk. I have gathered a hundred specimens of fungi in one stroll, perhaps not a quarter of which, upon careful scrutiny, though fair of exterior, would be fit for the table. The fungus-hunter _par excellence_ has usually been there before us and left his mark (see page 135)--a mere fine brown streak or tunnel, perhaps, winding through the pulp or stem, where his minute fungoid identity is even yet secreted. But we bigger fungus-eaters gradually learn to accept him--if not too outrageously promiscuous--as a natural part and parcel of our _Hachis aux Champignons_, or our simple mushrooms on toast, even as we wink at the similar lively accessories which sophisticate our delectable raisins, prunes, and figs, to say nothing of prime old Rochefort!

MUSHROOM POISONING

In conclusion, lest these pages, in spite of the impress of caution with which they are weighted, should lead to discomfiture, distress, or more serious results among their more careless readers, it is well to devote a few lines to directions for medical treatment where such should seem to be required. To this end I quote a passage from an article in the _Therapeutic Gazette_ of May, 1893, from the pen of Mr. McIlvaine, whose many years' experience with gastronomic fungi entitles his words to careful consideration:

[Sidenote: =Diagnosis and treatment=]

"The physician called upon to treat a case of toadstool poisoning need not wait to query after the variety eaten; he need not wish to see a sample. His first endeavor should be to ascertain the exact time elapsing between the eating of the toadstools and the first feeling of discomfort. If this is within four or five hours one of the minor poisons is at work, and rapid relief must be given by the administration of an emetic, followed by one or two moderate doses of sweet-oil and whiskey, in equal parts. Vinegar is effective as a substitute for sweet-oil. If from eight to twelve hours have elapsed, the physician may rest assured that amanitine is present, and should administer one-sixtieth of a grain of atropine at once."

This atropine is intended to be injected hypodermically, and the treatment repeated every half-hour until one-twentieth of a grain has been given, or the patient's life saved.

Further consideration of the Amanita and its deadly poison and antidote, with details as to treatment in a notable case, will be reserved for the following chapter.

The colored plates in the volume were prepared from pencil drawings tinted in water-color, many of them direct from nature, several dating back fifteen years, and many of them over twenty years, for their original sketch. The colors as presented indicate those of typical individuals of the various species, and each, in addition to the extended description in the text of the volume, is faced by a condensed description for ready reference, the usual troublesome necessity of turning the pages being thus avoided.

In each plate dimension marks are shown which indicate the expansion of the pileus or cap of the fungus in an ideal specimen.

* * * * *

[Sidenote: =Acknowledgments=]

In the preparation of this work, acknowledgments are specially due to Messrs. Julius A. Palmer and Charles McIlvaine for the privilege of liberal quotations from their published works, especially with reference to the poisonous fungi. The volume is also further indebted for occasional extracts from the standard works of Prof. Chas. Peck, Mrs. T. J. Hussey, Rev. Dr. C. D. Badham, Rev. Dr. M. C. Cooke, Rev. J. M. Berkeley, Worthington Smith, and Rev. M. A. Curtis, all of whose volumes and various other contributions on the special subject of mycophagy are included in my bibliography on a later page.

W. HAMILTON GIBSON

_October 1, 1894_ WASHINGTON, CONN.

_The Deadly Amanita_

The frequency of this terrible foe in all our woods, and the ever-recurring fatalities which are continually traced to its seductive treachery (some twenty-five deaths having been recorded in the public journals during the summer of 1893 alone), render it important that its teeth should be drawn, and its portrait placarded and popularly familiarized as an archenemy of mankind.

[Sidenote: =A whited sepulchre=]

As we have seen, from every superficial standpoint, this species is self-commendatory. It is, without doubt, in comeliness, symmetry, and structure, the ideal of all our mushrooms, as it is, indeed, the botanical type of the tribe Agaricus, as well as its most notorious genus. Since the time of that carousing young lunatic Nero, who, doubtless, was wont to make merry with its "convenient poison," upon one occasion, it is recorded by Pliny, to the presumably amusing extinction of the entire guests of a banquet, together with the prefect of the guard and a small host of tribunes and centurions, the Amanita has claimed an army of victims.

[Sidenote: =Easily identified botanically=]

While giving no superficial token of its dangerous character to the casual observer, the Amanita, as a genus and a species, is nevertheless easily identified, if the mushroom collector will for the moment consider it from the _botanical_ rather than the sensuous or gustatorial standpoint.

The deadly Amanita need no longer impose upon the fastidious feaster in the guise of the dainty "legume" of his menu, or as a contaminating, fatal ingredient in the otherwise wholesome _ragoût_.

[Sidenote: =Amanita vernus=]

In Plate 3 I have presented the reprobate _Amanita vernus_ in its protean progressive proportions from infancy to maturity. This is especially desirable, in that the fungus is equally dangerous as an infant, and also because the development of its growth specially emphasizes _botanically_ the one important structural character by which the species or genus may be easily distinguished. Let us, then, consider the specimen as a type of the tribe Agaricus (gilled mushroom, see p. 79), genus Amanita.

[Sidenote: =Vegetation of an Agaric=]

[Sidenote: =The danger signal=]

Year after year we are sure of finding this species, or others of the genus, especially in the spring and summer, its favorite haunt being the woods. Its spores, like other mushrooms, are shed upon the ground from the white gills beneath, as described in our chapter on "Spore-prints," or wafted to the ends of the earth on the breeze, and eventually, upon having found a suitable habitat, vegetate in the form of webby, white, mould-like growth--mycelium--which threads through the dead leaves, the earth, or decaying wood. This running growth is botanically considered as the _true_ fungus, the final mushroom being the _fruit_, whose function is the dissemination of the spores. After a rain, or when the conditions are otherwise suitable, a certain point among this webby tangle beneath the ground becomes suddenly quickened into astonishing cell-making energy, and a small rounded nodule begins to form, which continues to develop with great rapidity (Plate 2). In a few hours more it has pushed its head above ground, and now appears like an egg, as at A, Plate 3. The successive stages in its development are clearly indicated in the drawings. Each represents an interval of an hour or two, or more, the most suggestive and important feature being the _outer envelope_, or _volva_, which encloses the actual mushroom--at first completely, then in a ruptured condition, until in the mature growth the only vestige of it which appears above ground are the few shreds generally, though not always, to be seen on the top of the cap. The _most important_ character of this deadly Amanita is, therefore, apparently with almost artful malice prepense, often _concealed_ from our view in the mature specimen, the only remnant of the original outer sack being the _cup_ or _socket_ about the base of the stem, which is generally hidden under ground, and usually there remains after we pluck the specimen.

[Sidenote: =The poison-cup=]

This "poison-cup" may be taken as the cautionary symbol of the genus Amanita, common to all the species. _Any mushroom or toadstool, therefore, whose stem is thus set in a socket, or which has any suggestion of such a socket, should be labelled "poison"_; for, though some of the species having this cup are edible, from the popular point of view, it is wiser and certainly safer to condemn the entire group. But the cup must be _sought_ for. We shall thus at least avoid the possible danger of a fatal termination to our amateur experiments in gustatory mycology; for, while various other mushrooms might, and do, induce even serious illness through digestive disturbance, and secondary, possibly fatal, complications, the Amanita group are now conceded to be the only fungi which contain a positive, active poisonous principle whose certain logical consequence is death.

[Sidenote: =The "veil" or shroud=]

Another structural feature of the Amanita is shown in the illustration, but has been omitted from the above consideration to avoid confusion. This is the "veil" which, in the young mushroom, originally connected the edge of the cap, or pileus, with the stem, and whose gradual rupture necessarily follows the expansion of the cap, until a mere frill or ring is left about the stem at the original point of contact.

But this feature is a frequent character in many edible mushrooms, as witness the several examples in the edible species of our plates, and therefore of no dangerous significance _per se_, being merely a membrane which protects the growing gills.

[Sidenote: =Scales and scurfy spots=]

Nor are the other features, the remnants of the volva on the summit of the cap, to be considered of primary importance from the popular point of view, for the reason--firstly, that these fragments, while conspicuous and constant in _Amanita muscarius_ (Plate 4), are _not_ thus permanent in several other species of Amanitæ, notably the white-satin-capped _Amanita vernus_, _Amanita phalloides_, and _Amanita Cæsarea_, in which the fragments are deciduous; and, secondly, because the same general effect of these warty scales is so clearly imitated in other mushrooms which are distinctly edible, as in examples Plate 10 and Plate 16. It is to the _volva_ or _cup_, then, that we must devote our special attention as the only safe and constant character. And this leads me to the prominent and necessary consideration of another common species of Amanita, mentioned above, in which even this cup is more or less obscure.

THE POISONOUS FLY-MUSHROOM

_Agaricus (Amanita) muscarius_

[Sidenote: =A deceptive Amanita=]

This, one of the most strikingly beautiful of our toadstools, is figured in Plate 4. Its brilliant cap of yellow, orange, or even scarlet, studded with white or grayish raised spots, can hardly be unfamiliar to even the least observant country walker. Its favorite habitat is the woods, and, in the writer's experience especially, beneath hemlocks and poplars, where he has seen this species year after year in whole companies, and in all stages shown in the plate at the same time, from the globular young specimen almost covered with its white warts just lifting its head above the brown carpet to the fully expanded individual, in which the spots have assumed a shrunken and brownish tint.

[Sidenote: =Used as a fly-poison=]

[Sidenote: =Its obscure cup=]

The consideration of this species is of the _utmost importance_, as its beauty is but an alluring mask, which has enticed many to their destruction; among the more recent of its conspicuous victims having been the Czar Alexis of Russia. For this is another cosmopolitan type of mushroom, common alike in America, Great Britain, Europe, and Asia, in all of which countries it is notorious for its poisonous resources. It is commonly known as the "Fly-agaric," its substance macerated in milk having been employed for centuries as an effectual fly-poison. After the reader's introduction to the botanical character of the Amanita, he would, presumably, be somewhat suspicious of the present species. The suggestive white or dingy fragments upon its cap, it is true, would alone arouse his suspicions, but in the examination of the stem for the telltale volva or cup its verification might be somewhat in doubt. It is for this reason that the species is emphasized in these pages, as the _Amanita muscarius_, judging from the great dissimilarity of its numerous portraits from all countries, would seem to be remarkably protean, especially with reference to its stalk. The majority of the portraits of this reprobate presents the volva as distinct and as clean cut as in the _A. vernus_ just described, and the stalk above as equally smooth, features which are usually at variance with the associated botanical description of the species, which often characterizes the volva as "incomplete" or "obscure," and the stem as "rough and scaly." If the portraits in these works are correct, the Amanita qualities of the species are clearly displayed, but if their accompanying descriptions are to be credited, and such seem to be in perfect accord with the specimens which I have always found, the _A. muscarius_ would seem in need of a more authentic historian.

_PLATE IV_

FLY MUSHROOM

=Agaricus (Amanita) muscarius=

=Pileus:= Diameter three to six inches, quite flat
at maturity; color brilliant yellow, orange, or
scarlet, becoming pale with age, dotted with
adhesive white, at length pale brownish warts, the
remnants of the volva.

=Gills:= Pure white, very symmetrical, various in
length, the shorter ones terminating under the cap
with an almost vertical abruptness.

=Spores:= Pure white. A spore-print of this species is
shown in Plate 37.

=Stem:= White, yellowish with age, becoming shaggy, at
length scaly, the scales below appearing to merge
into the form of an obscure cup.

=Volva:= Often obscure, indicated by a mere ragged
line of loose outward curved shaggy scales around a
bulbous base.

=Flesh:= White.

=Habitat:= Woods and their borders, especially
favoring pine and hemlock.

=Season:= Summer and autumn.

AMANITA MUSCARIA. (POISONOUS.)]

[Sidenote: =Volva scales permanent=]

The example figured in the plate presents the stem and volva as they have always appeared in specimens obtained by the writer. In the young individuals the stem is waxy-white, becoming later a dull, pale ochre hue, the lower half being shaggy and torn, and beset with loose projecting woolly points which resolve themselves below into scales with loose tips curved outward, and so distantly disposed upon the bulbous base as to leave _no marked definition_ of the continuous rim or opening of a cup. But the cup is there, and in a section of the bud state of the mushroom could have been seen, even as in the _white warts_ upon the surface of the _younger_ specimens we note the evidences of the upper portion of the same white _volva_. In many other species of Amanita, notably _A. vernus_, as already mentioned, these volva fragments generally wither and are shed from the cap. They are thus not to be counted on as a permanent token. But in the fly-mushroom they form a _distinct character_, as they _adhere firmly to the smooth skin_ of the pileus, and in drying, instead of shrivelling and curling and falling off, simply shrink, turn brownish, and in the maturely expanded mushroom appear like scattered drops of mud which have dried upon the pileus. Another peculiar structural feature of this mushroom is shown in the sectional drawing herewith given. The shorter gills, instead of rounding off as they approach the pileus (see _a_), terminate abruptly almost at right angles to their edge. The contrast from the usual form will be more apparent by comparison with the section of the parasol-mushroom on page 114.

Few species of mushrooms have such an interesting history as this. Its deadly properties were known to the ancients. From the earliest times its deeds of notoriety are on record.

[Sidenote: =Historical Amanita=]

This is quite possibly the species alluded to by Pliny as "very conveniently adapted for poisoning," and is not improbably the mushroom referred to by this historian in the following quotation from his famous _Natural History_: "Mushrooms are a dainty food, but deservedly held in disesteem since the notorious crime committed by Agrippina, who through their agency poisoned her husband, the Emperor Claudius; and at the same moment, in the person of her son Nero, inflicted another poisonous curse upon the whole world, herself in particular."

[Sidenote: =Amanita dipsomaniacs=]

Notwithstanding its fatal character, this mushroom, it is said, is habitually eaten by certain peoples, to whom the poison simply acts as an intoxicant. Indeed, it is customarily thus employed as a narcotic and an exhilarant in Kamchatka and Asiatic Russia generally, where the Amanita drunkard supplants the opium fiend and alcohol dipsomaniac of other countries. Its narcotizing qualities are commemorated by Cooke in his _Seven Sisters of Sleep_, wherein may be found a full description of the toxic employment of the fungus.

The writer has heard it claimed that this species of Amanita has been eaten with impunity by certain individuals; but the information has usually come from sources which warrant the belief that another harmless species has been confounded with it. The warning of my Frontispiece may safely be extended to the fly-amanita. Its beautiful gossamer veil may aptly symbolize a shroud.

[Sidenote: =Forewarned and forearmed=]

By fixing these simple structural features of the Amanita in mind, and emphasizing them by a study of our Frontispiece, we may now consider ourselves armed against our greatest foe, and may with some assurance make our limited selection among this lavish larder of wild provender continually going to waste by the ton in our woods and pastures and lawns. For it is now a fact generally believed by fungologists, and being gradually demonstrated, that the edible species, far from being the exception, as formerly regarded, are the rule; that a great majority of our common wild fungi are at least harmless, if not positively wholesome and nutritious as food.

THE POISONOUS ALKALOID

The toxic and deadly effects of certain mushroom poisons, as already described, have been known since ancient times; and the prolonged intoxicating debauches to-day prevalent among the Amanita dipsomaniacs of Northern Russia and Kamchatka, consequent upon the allurements of the decoction of the fly-agaric, are well-known matters of history.

The true chemical character of this poison, however, was not discovered until 1868, when it was successfully isolated by chemical analyses of Drs. Vigier, Schmiedeberg, Currie, and Koppe, and ascertained to be an alkaloid principle, to which was given originally the name of bulbosine, since variously known as muscarine, and finally and most appropriately amanitine.

[Sidenote: =Mr. Palmer's discovery=]

The poison thus identified, it was reserved to an American authority on edible fungi, Mr. Julius A. Palmer, of Boston, to discover the fact of its confinement to but one fungus family--the Amanita.

In the year 1879, in an article contributed by him to the _Moniteur Scientifique_, of Paris, he states:

"Mushrooms are unfit for food by decay or other cause, producing simply a disagreement with the system by containing some bitter, acrid, or slimy element, _or by the presence of a wonderful and dangerous alkaloid which is absorbed in the intestinal canal_. This alkaloid, so far as known, is _found only in the Amanita family_."

To Mr. Palmer, then, is due the chemical segregation of the Amanita group as the only repository of this deadly toxic.

[Sidenote: =Lesser poisoning=]

It has not been discerned in other species of fungi, whose so-called "poisonous" effects are more often traceable to mere indigestibility, the selection of "over-ripe" specimens, or to idiosyncrasy, rather than to their distinctly poisonous properties.

Many mushrooms of other families which _do_ possess ingredients chemically at war with the human system--as the _Russula emetica_ and certain _Lactarii_, for instance--at least give a fair warning, either by taste or odor, of their dark intentions.

[Sidenote: =Antidote for Amanita=]

[Sidenote: =First authentic application=]

Owing to the numerous deaths every year consequent upon mushroom-eating, and nearly always directly traceable to the Amanita, the discovery of an antidote to this poison has been the quest of many noted chemists--several supposed antidotes having been experimented with upon dogs and other animals without desired results. These included atropine, the deadly crystalline alkaloid from the _Atropa belladonna_. The earlier experiments upon animals with this drug in Paris, as described by Dr. Gautier in 1884, while encouraging, were not considered conclusive, but were sufficient to warrant the suggestion that the treatment upon man might be effective. In a résumé of the subject in the Philadelphia _Medical and Surgical Reporter_, December, 1885, for the benefit of the medical practitioners who are so frequently called upon to attend cases of mushroom poisoning, Captain Charles McIlvaine recommended the administration of a dose of atropine of from 0.05 to 0.0002 milligramme, and it was later reserved for the same gentleman to witness the first authentic instance of the application of this remedy in antagonism with the Amanita poison in the human system. The report of this experience was afterwards published (see Bibliography, No. 6), embodying also a complete and authentic account of the symptoms and treatment of the cases by the attending physician, Dr. J. E. Shadle, of Shenandoah, Pa., which account I feel is appropriately included here, being in full sympathy with the solicitous spirit of my pages. I therefore quote the statement of Dr. Shadle for the benefit of those interested.

SHENANDOAH, PA., October 26, 1885.

Mr. CHAS. MCILVAINE:

MY DEAR SIR,--In compliance with your request, I
take pleasure in submitting to your consideration the
following report of five cases of toadstool-poisoning
which recently came under my observation and treatment:

[Sidenote: =Amanita poisoning symptoms=]

On Monday, August 31, at 10 A.M., I was hastily called
to see a family, consisting of Mr. F., his wife, his
mother-in-law, Mrs. R., and his brother-in-law, Thomas
R., who, the messenger stated, were having "cramps in
the bowels."

Promptly responding to the call, I found them
suffering from intense abdominal pains, nausea,
vomiting, boneache, and feelings of distress in the
_præcordial_ region.

Mr. F., twenty-nine years of age, was a miner by
occupation, and had led an intemperate life. Mrs. F.,
twenty-two years of age, was a brunette, possessing
a delicate body, and bearing a decided _neurotic_
tendency. Mrs. R., forty-five years of age, was a small
_nervo-bilious_ woman. Thomas R., thirteen years of age,
was a youth well developed.

While I was examining these patients, Mrs. B., forty
years of age, a neighbor of the family, presented
herself, manifesting in a milder degree the same
symptoms. She was a tall, spare woman. Previous to their
present attack of illness their general health was good;
in none could signs of disease be traced.

Picture to your mind five persons suffering from
cholera morbus in its most aggravated form, and you
will be enabled to form a pretty correct idea of what I
beheld in the Faris residence on Monday morning, August
31.

That five individuals, four being members of one
household, should be attacked simultaneously by a
similar train of symptoms, naturally gave rise in my
mind to a suspicion that something poisonous had been
eaten. Upon close inquiry I obtained the following
history:

On the afternoon of Sunday, August 30, Mr. F. and
Thomas R. were walking through a wood not far distant
from their home, and, in wandering from place to place,
found clusters of very beautiful toadstools growing
abundantly under trees, among which the chestnut
predominated.

[Sidenote: =Amanita poisoning symptoms=]

Attracted by their appearance, and supposing them to
be edible, they gathered a large quantity, with the
anticipation of having a delicious dish for their Sunday
evening meal.

Various other kinds were growing in the same locality,
but this particular variety impressed them as being the
most inviting. A correct specimen of the _fungus_ they
had collected having been sent you, I will leave its
botanical description to your pen.

At about nine o'clock, five hours after gathering
them, Mrs. F. cooked three pints of the toadstools,
stewing them in milk, and seasoning with butter, pepper,
and salt.

They had dinner at a very early hour on this day, and
by the time they had supper all felt exceedingly hungry,
in consequence of which they ate quite heartily. Mrs. F.
and her brother vied with each other as to the quantity
they could eat. In addition to this dish, bread and
butter and coffee were served.

Soon after supper the family retired. None experienced
the least discomfort until towards daybreak, when
considerable distress in the abdominal organs and
cerebral disturbance manifested themselves. Prominent
among the initial symptoms were foul breath, coated
tongue, pain in the stomach, nausea, and a peculiar
sickening sensation in the epigastrium. These symptoms
gradually increased in severity, and in twelve hours
after the ingestion of the poison, when I made my first
visit, the condition of the victims involved great
danger. Intense vomiting was present in four, while in
Mrs. R.'s case a violent retching seemed to persist.

Gastro-intestinal irritation, followed by a relaxed
condition of the bowels, showed itself in about thirty
hours after the onset of the more active symptoms. With
the appearance of this trouble an insufferable tenesmus
developed, producing paroxysms of severe agony. This
was particularly true in the case of Mrs. R., whose
suffering was so great that it became a formidable
symptom to combat. Upon the subsidence of the more
severe symptoms, the patients fell into a state of
extreme prostration, accompanied by stupor and cold
extremities. In the mother, son, and daughter this was
profoundly marked. They were completely indifferent to
persons and things around them, as well as to their own
suffering.

[Sidenote: =Amanita poisoning symptoms=]

As the symptoms increased in violence, Thos. R.
advanced into a state of coma, and Mrs. F. into coma
vigil, and remained so for about twelve hours prior to
death. The face had a shrunken and wrinkled appearance,
the eyes were sunken, the skin was dusky, and the
surface of the body was dry and cold to the touch. The
pulse, a number of hours before death, was imperceptible
at the wrist, and the heart-sounds were scarcely
perceived by auscultation.

The pulse in all cases was notably affected, ranging
from 120 to 140 per minute. In character it was soft and
compressible; intermittent at intervals.

There was a distinct rise of temperature; the
thermometer in the axilla registered as much as 140° F.

A mild form of delirium was an occasional event. In
the case of Mrs. F. it formed an important element.

Respecting the special senses, it is well to mention
that sight was peculiarly affected. Notwithstanding the
fact that the pupils responded kindly to the action
of the light, an unpleasant sensation of blindness
frequently appeared, and continued for a few minutes.

In spite of all that was done to counteract its
ravages, the effects of the poison were so extremely
deadly that a fatal issue was the result in two cases.
Thomas R. died in fifty-six and Mrs. F. in sixty-three
hours after the ingestion of the toadstools.

_Treatment._--The treatment instituted was mainly
symptomatic.

[Sidenote: =Amanita poisoning treatment=]

Fearing that undigested particles of toadstools
might still be lying in the gastro-intestinal tract,
to Mrs. R., who had not freely vomited, an emetic was
administered, and to the rest a mild purge.

An intense thirst and a burning sensation being
present in the mouth, throat, and stomach, small pieces
of cracked ice were freely used with a view to allaying
it.

For the gastro-intestinal irritation I prescribed with
satisfactory results the following:

℞ Bismuth subnit., ʒv;
Creosote, gtt. xv;
Mucil. acaciæ, f℥i;
Aq. menth. pip., q.s. ad f℥iii. M.
Sig.--Teaspoonful every one or two hours.

1/8 grain of morph. sulph. was administered
hypodermically to alleviate as much as possible the
abdominal suffering.

The impending exhaustion and the failing heart's
action I endeavored to combat with a free administration
of alcoholic stimulants in combination with moderate
doses of tincture of digitalis both by the mouth and
under the skin.

In order to invite the circulation of the blood to the
ice-cold surface of the body, heated bricks and bottles
filled with hot water were placed in bed around the
patients.

[Sidenote: =Diagnosis=]

Analyzing each symptom as it arose, and carefully
observing the effects of the poison on the system, I
formed the opinion that the toxic element contained in
the noxious fungus eaten by these people was narcotic
in its nature and spent its force on the nerve centres,
especially selecting the one governing the function of
respiration and the action of the heart.

Acting upon this conclusion, I began, in the early
part of my treatment, subcutaneous injections of
sulphate of atropine in frequently-repeated doses,
ranging from 1/180 to 1/90 grain. The injections
invariably were followed by a perceptible improvement
in the patient; the heart's action became stronger,
the pulse returned at the wrist, and the respiration
increased in depth and fulness.

Through the agency of this remedy, supported by the
other measures adopted, three (or sixty per cent.) of
the patients recovered.

The lessons I draw from this experience are:

1. The poisoning produced by this variety of toadstool
is slow in manifesting its effects.

2. That it destroys life by a process of asthenia.

3. That in atropine we have an antidote, and it should
be pushed heroically from the earliest inception of
the action of the poison.

I have the honor to remain

Yours very respectfully,
J. E. SHADLE, M.D.

In reply to the queries, Was atropine administered in all the cases? and What was the total amount administered to each? Dr. Shadle responded as follows:

SHENANDOAH, PA., October 29, 1885.

MY DEAR MR. MCILVAINE:

Yours of the 27th I have received. The two questions
you ask me therein I see are very important, and they
should be answered as fully as possible. I am sorry I
overlooked the matter in my report.

[Sidenote: =Amanitine and atropine=]

Before attempting an answer, it is well for me to note
right here that Mrs. B., the neighbor, did not eat very
much of the toadstool stew; Mrs. R. and Mr. F. each ate
about the same quantity--from one and one-half to two
platefuls. This is according to Faris's statement. But
the two fatal cases--Thomas R. and Mrs. F.--tried to see
which could eat the most, and consequently got their
full share of the poison. The cat mentioned before had
about a tablespoonful of the broth, and they tell me she
was very sick. Whether or not she died is not known.

Now as to the treatment by atropine, I think I can
approximate a pretty correct statement in reply to
your queries. Not knowing that atropine was considered
an antidote, I began its employment in the treatment
of these cases from the physiological knowledge I had
of the drug relative to its action in other diseases
in which there was heart-failure and embarrassed
respiration.

When I saw the U. S. Dispensatory suggested it, I
of course felt it my duty to use it, as I could find
nowhere anything else mentioned as an antidote. I feel
convinced that it was by means of the atropine that
I saved three of the five patients. Why do I think
so? Because whenever I would administer the remedy
the patient rallied, the pulse returned at the wrist,
the heart-sounds became stronger, and the respiration
increased in strength and fulness. What more conclusive
evidence do I want than this to show as to how the agent
was acting?

[Sidenote: =Administration of antidote=]

When I first saw the patients--twelve hours after the
ingestion of the poison--their symptoms were alike, one
suffering as much as the other (August 31). I began the
use of the alkaloid in the evening of the same day, when
I saw the powers of life giving way, the heart failing,
and the respiration becoming shallow. It was used in all
the cases as follows:

Mrs. B., 1/180, 1/90, 1/90, or 5/180, or 1/36 gr.

Mr. F., 1/180, 1/90, 1/90, 1/90, or 7/180 gr.

Mrs. R., 1/180, 1/90, 1/90, 1/90, or 7/180 gr.

Thos. R., 1/180, 1/90, 1/90, 1/90, 1/90, or 9/180, or
1/20 gr.

Mrs. F., 1/180, 1/90, 1/90, 1/90, 1/90, or 9/180, or
1/20 gr.

In accordance with the above formulæ the drug was
administered. I visited the patients at intervals of six
or eight hours, and at each visitation they received an
injection in the doses above mentioned. From this we see
that in all Mrs. B. received gr. 1/36 of atropine; Mr.
F. received gr. 7/180 of atropine; Mrs. R. received gr.
7/180 of atropine; Thos R. (fatal) received gr. 1/20 of
atropine; Mrs. F. (fatal) received gr. 1/20 of atropine.

The alkaloid failing to save the two that died I think
can be attributed to one of two causes, or probably both:

1. That the use of atropine was begun too late and not
used heroically enough.

2. That so much of the poison was taken up by the
system in these cases that it became too virulent
to counteract.

From the history of the cases I know they ate by far
the largest quantity. My opinion leans towards the first
probable cause I have mentioned.

Another fact worth stating here is that the pupils
never became affected by the administration of these
doses.

Hoping this will make the matter satisfactory, I remain

Yours truly, J. E. SHADLE.

The interval between the ingestion and the symptoms is, therefore, a most important aid in the diagnosis of a case of mushroom poisoning; and in the event of an Amanita, heretofore absolutely fatal, it is presumably under the control of medical science, now that the deadly toxic principle has at last found its enemy in the neutralizing properties of the equally deadly atropine.

It would seem, moreover, from the severe personal experience of Mr. Julius A. Palmer, that the poison of the Amanita is quite capable of mischief without being taken into the digestive organs. So volatile is this dangerous alkaloid that it may produce violent effects upon the system either through its odor alone, or by simple contact with the skin and consequent absorption.

Mr. Palmer, in his before-mentioned article in the _Moniteur Scientifique_, Paris, relates the following experiences:

[Sidenote: =Poisons by contact and odor=]

"Once while perspiring from a long walk I undertook to bring in a large bunch of the Amanita for an artist. Seated in a close car, holding them in my warm hand, although protected by a paper wrapper, a fearful nausea overcame me. The toadstool was not at first suspected, yet I had all the symptoms of a sea-sick person, and was only relieved by a wide distance between myself and the exciting cause.

"While writing this article," he continues, "a friend sent me two very elegant specimens of the Amanita tribe. They were in a confined box. On opening it I smelled of them a few times, and allowed the box to lie near my desk while I wrote to a medical gentleman anxious to procure such for chemical experiment. Having sent them away the matter was dismissed from my mind for three hours after, when, by an attack of vomiting and oppression at the stomach, they were enforced upon my attention. The whites of my eyes became livid, and even until noon the day following the leaden color of my face was noticed by more than one person."

[Sidenote: =A wide berth to Amanita=]

The moral of this story is that the less the reader has to do with Amanita fungi the better. Let them have a wide berth, or at most an annihilating kick, lest by their alluring beauty they tempt the next unwary traveller who shall encounter them.

But you desire a specimen "to show a friend," or "to make a photograph of, or a sketch," perhaps. In such case it were well to consider further the experiences of Mr. Palmer, which will show the wisdom of keeping your gustatorial and artistic mycology in separate expeditions, or at least of providing your poison-exhaling Amanita specimen with a cage by itself. In the same article he continues:

[Sidenote: =Mushrooms inoculated by contact=]

"Mushrooms make the same use of the atmosphere as men, even their exhalations are accordingly vitiated with their properties. Those not deadly thus attack humanity--namely, by absorption of their essential elements by the whole system. They also _inoculate each other_ with or without contact, so that _if edible and noxious toadstools are gathered together the former will absorb the properties of the latter_."

In proof of this assertion he instances a personal experience as follows: "About four years ago a number of poisonous mushrooms (not Amanitæ, but of a totally different family) were sent me with edible fungus. The two varieties had lain twelve hours in the same box. The noxious ones were rejected, and the esculent washed and eaten. In a moment my appetite was gone; violent perspiration, vertigo, and trembling were the next symptoms; then chills, nausea, purging, and tenesmus, all within thirty minutes. Now the substance could not have reached the intestines. The virus absorbed from the noxious fungus permeated the whole system through eating the harmless ones; unmixed with other food it acted upon the muscles through an empty stomach; once spent, the ailment passed off," etc.

[Sidenote: =Poison extracted by vinegar=]

From these and other experiences he draws the following conclusions: The poisonous principle of a fungus being absorbed by a harmless element, if the latter be eaten the venom acts more quickly. In reinforcement of this he states that "if the Amanita be cut in sections and laid in vinegar the fungus may be eaten without danger to life; but on a very small dose of the vinegar, death will follow more speedily than if the whole toadstool be eaten." Further interesting matter upon this topic is contained in the article from which I quote, and to which the reader is referred in his volume included in my bibliographical list. The work also contains numerous other collected articles of Mr. Palmer's upon this subject of fungi, to which he has devoted so much attention, and with which his name has become so popularly identified in America.

[Sidenote: =Effect of salt and heat=]

The allusion to vinegar as an absorbent of the poison suggests the prevalent habitual use of salt as a safeguard by many in the employment of the fungus as food, as both of these ingredients play a prominent part in a fungus cuisine. It is averred by some writers that one of the most noxious of Amanitæ--the Fly-agaric--is eaten in some countries, notably Russia, without unpleasant results, while it is confidently asserted to be harmless after, as it were, having its venom drawn by a soaking in brine previous to cooking. Boiling--both in the possible neutralizing of the poison through heat, and in the withdrawal of the same in the solution--would also be contributive to safety in such cases, provided the tainted liquid were not retained as in a stew or soup.

[Sidenote: =Epicurean perversity=]

On this topic it is interesting to note the epicurean perversity of a certain French author, who, in the face of the already overwhelming abundance of nature's esculent species of fungi, must needs include all the deadly Amanitæ as well, though he gives a recipe by which the poison is extracted by the copious aid of salt, vinegar, boiling water, and drawing. This process, on general principles, might invite humorous speculation as to the appetizing qualities of the residual morsel thus acquired, or as to the advisability of deliberately selecting a poisonous substance for the desideratum of the washed-out, corned, spiced, nondescript remnant which survives the process of extraction, not only of its noxious properties, but of even what nutriment it might possibly contain.

[Sidenote: =Mushrooms à la mode=]

Fancy a beefsteak similarly "prepared," all its nourishing ingredients extracted and thrown away; its exhausted remnant of muscular fibre now the mere absorbent vehicle for vinegar, salt, lemon-juice, butter, nutmeg, garlic, spice, cloves, and other seeming indispensables to the preparation of the Champignon _à la mode_!

The verdict of the extreme fungus epicure upon the delectable flavor of this or that mushroom must indeed be taken _cum grano salis_, the customary culinary treatment, or maltreatment, of these delicately flavored fruits having for its apparent object the elimination as far as possible of any suggestion of the true flavor of the fungus. I fancy that even the caustic, rebellious root of the Indian-turnip or the skunk-cabbage thus tamed and subdued in a smothering emollient of spiced gravy or ragoût might negatively serve a purpose as more or less indigestible pabulum.

[Sidenote: =Enough without Amanita=]

While, as already mentioned, a few of this genus Amanita are edible, it is well in concluding our chapter to emphasize the caution of an earlier page as to the absolute exclusion of the entire genus from the bill of fare of the amateur mycophagist. There is an abundance of wholesome, delicious fungi at our doors without them.

Many species of Amanita are to be found more or less frequently in company with the esculent varieties recommended in the chapters following. Among these the two extremes of variation from the typical form are seen in the _A. muscarius_ in its permanent retention of the volva scales and the obscurity of its cup, and in the _A. phalloides_, herewith pictured about half natural size, with the frequent _entire absence_ of these remnant scales, which wither and fall off, leaving the yellowish or greenish cap perfectly smooth.

It is to the _volva_ or _cup_, then, that we must turn for the one fixed permanent character by which this genus is to be identified.

Our introductory description of the Amanita presents the most perfect botanical type of a large division of the fungus tribe, the _Agaricaceæ_, or gill-bearing mushrooms, one of the two great orders of fungi which include the large majority of edible species.

A brief consideration of the general classification of fungi will not be out of place at the head of this chapter.

CLASSIFICATION OF FUNGI

A fungus is a cellular cryptogamous (flowerless) plant, nourished through its spawn or mycelium in place of roots, living in air, and propagated by spores.

Fungi--_mycetes_--are naturally subdivided into two great divisions:

1. SPORIFERA--those in which the spores or reproductive bodies are _naked_ or soon exposed, as shown in illustration on page 79.

2. SPORIDIIFERA--in which the spores are _enveloped_ in sacs or _asci_. These resemble in shape the _cystidium_ of illustration on page 79.

The first of these divisions--the SPORIFERA, or naked-spored fungi--is again subdivided into four families, as follows:

1. _Hymenomycetes._ Hymenium, or spore-bearing surface, _exposed_ and conspicuous, as seen in the common mushroom and all Agarics and Polyporei.

2. _Gasteromycetes_ (_gaster_, a belly). Hymenium, or spore-bearing surface, _enclosed_ in a more or less spherical case, called the peridium, which ruptures and expels the spores at maturity in the form of dust, as in the puff-balls.

3. _Coniomycetes_, from the Greek κωνἱς, meaning dust, the entire fungus having a _dust-like_ appearance. Mildew forms a good example of this family.

4. _Hyphomycetes_, from the Greek ὑφα, meaning a thread. _Thread-like_ fungi, the filaments being more conspicuous than the spore masses, of which group blue-mould affords an illustration.

The Hymenomycetes (1) is again subdivided into six orders, the discrimination being based on the diverse character of the spore surface. The first of these orders is the _Agaricini_, or gill-bearing fungi, to which our present chapter will be confined.

AGARICINI

In this order the hymenium, or spore-bearing surface, is inferior, _i.e._, on the under side of the pileus, and is spread over lamellæ or gills, which radiate from the stem of the fungus, and each of which may be separated into two filmy flat divisions.

On the opposite page is shown an Agaric in vertical section, disclosing a full side view of the gills. A highly magnified view of this gill-surface is indicated herewith, duly indexed, the sporophore being shown in the act of shedding its spores from their points of attachment to the four stigmata at the summit. These fruitful four-pointed sporophores or basidia are intermingled with the cystidia and sterile cells, the whole mass forming the surface of the hymenium. The dissemination of the Agaric is further considered in a later chapter on "Spore-prints."

The most perfect botanical type of the Agarics is the Amanita, already sufficiently dwelt upon.

We will now proceed to the consideration of other examples in which the symbol of the fatal cup is happily absent, and whose identities as esculent species are clearly denoted by individual characteristics.

EDIBLE AGARICS

MEADOW MUSHROOM

_Agaricus campestris_

[Sidenote: ="The" mushroom=]

[Sidenote: =Description of Campestris=]

Perhaps the one species which enjoys the widest range of popular confidence as the "mushroom" in the lay mind, as distinguished from "toadstool," is the _Agaricus campestris_, known as the "meadow mushroom" (Plate 5). It is the species commonly exposed in our markets. Its cultivation is an important industry, but it often yields an enormous spontaneous harvest in its native haunts. The plate shows a cluster of the mushrooms in their various stages of development, the detached specimen below representing the semi-opened condition in which the fungus is usually gathered for market. It will be observed that the base of the stem is _entirely free from any suggestion of a volva or cup_. As its popular name implies, this species in its wild state is one of the voluntary tributes of our late summer and autumn meadows and pastures, though it may occasionally frequent lawns, shrubberies, and barn-yards. In size it varies from two to three and a half inches across the pileus or cap, which is either smooth or slightly rough, scaly, or scurfy, and creamy white or tawny in color, according to age or variety. The most important distinguishing feature of this species is the color of the gills. If we break away the "veil" in the unopened specimen, we find them to be of a pallid flesh tint. In the more advanced state they become decidedly pinkish, with age and expansion gradually deepening to purplish, purple-brown, and finally brownish black. The gills are of unequal lengths, as shown in the section. The stem is creamy white and of solid substance, and always shows the remains of the veil in a persistent frill or ring just beneath the cap.

_PLATE V_

"THE MUSHROOM"

_Agaricus campestris_

=Pileus:= At first globular, its edge connected to
stem by the veil; then round convex, at length
becoming possibly almost flat. Surface dry, downy,
or even quite scaly, varying in color from creamy
white to light brown. Diameter at full expansion,
about three inches.

=Gills:= Unequal in length; pink when first revealed,
becoming brownish, brown, purplish, and finally
almost black.

=Stem:= Solid; of the color of the cap; paler and
white in section, retaining the remnant of the veil
in a permanent ragged ring.

=Spores:= Brown.

=Taste:= Sweet and inviting, and odor agreeable.

=Habitat:= Pastures, lawns, and open rich soil
generally.

=Season:= Late summer and early autumn, occasionally
in spring.

[Sidenote: =Cultivation of mushrooms=]

Doubtless a sufficient and satisfactory reason for the universal dignity which this species has acquired as "the mushroom" may be found in the fact that it is the only species prominently under cultivation, and almost the only one which is sure to respond to the artificial cultivation of its spawn in the so-called "mushroom bed." The "spawn" of the Campestris has thus become a mercantile commodity, duly advertised in the seedsmen's catalogues.

[Sidenote: =Mushroom "spawn" bed=]

This so-called spawn is in truth nothing but the mycelium, or subterranean vine of the mushroom (see Plate 2), taken from the beds in which the mushrooms have been grown, or in which the mycelium has been cultivated. The cultivator simply prepares a "bed" to receive it--duplicating as far as possible the soil conditions from which it was taken, whether from foreign cultivation or his old manure-bed or stable-yard--a rich, warm compost of loam and horse-manure, this latter ingredient being a most important consideration, as the fungus in its several varieties, notably the larger, _Agaricus arvensis_, known as the "horse-mushroom," has followed the track of the horse around the world. These natural conditions having been even approximately fulfilled, will, within two months, generally reward the cultivator with a crop of mushrooms, which, with the continued ramifications of the mycelium permeating the muck as the yeast fungus permeates the home-made loaf, will insure a continual succession of crops for weeks or months, to be renewed spontaneously, perhaps, the following season.

The present volume, having specific reference to fungi in their wild state, and the celebration of their esculent virtues, being thus essentially in antithesis to artificial culture, further consideration of the cultivation of the mushroom is omitted. The reader is referred to the volumes in my bibliographical list, Nos. 8 and 22, in which full instructions will be found.

[Sidenote: =Species opposed to cultivation=]

[Sidenote: =Certain exceptions=]