The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-10-26

dog has been known to exist on boile
fly agarics for weeks, while the small
est quantity of the d9coction would hay
killed it in a day.
Although the fly agaric is highly poi
: sonous in this country, where instance
are recorded of it's having proved fata
to many who have eaten it, it is Target
: consumed in the north of Russia and i
Scandinavia. The peasantry about Mic
: and in Savoy are also said to use it a
food. 1t is either eaten fresh or driet
and strung for winter use, but befor
being used it is WE'LL macerated in sal
and vinegar until all the poisonou
properties are extracted. Whether tn,
plant is less active on the Continen
than with us of whether the poisonous
principle is rendered inert by the pro.
cess which it undergoes is uncertain
Frederic Gerard, a Frenchman main
tains that the amantine, or muscarine
as the poison of this mushroom is nam
ed, in particular can be entirely dissolv-
ed out of the tissues of the plant by
first soaking it for some hours in salt
and water and afterWard boiling it in
| fresh water before being dressed and
eaten. In the presence of commission
appointed by the Sanitary Association
Of Paris he showed the means of elimi-
mating the noxious principles from these
! deadly plants, and he and his family
made plentiful repast of the mush-
rooms so prepared. The wife of the
| Car Alexis |. died after partaking of
the mushroom prepared for her during
Lent. The poison is not simply dissolv-
ed entirely out of the flbres of the mush-
rooms and held In solution by the water
as active as ever. There seems no
doubt, however, that the plant is eaten
ON the Continent, for Cooke says that
two instances have come under his no
tice Of persons possessed of some botanl
cal knowledge who had resided in Rus
STA and had there partaken of this
mushroom.
The Ostiacks, the Kamtschatdales
and other inhabitants of Asiatic Rus
STA use it as an intoXicant. It's intoXi-
eating power is strongest when eaten
raw. Langsdorff says the most power
full effect is produced by drying the
fungus and swallowing it without
mastication. This seems to bring upon
a state Of inebriation closely bordering
upon delirium, and is usually accom-
panied more or less with spasmodic af-
fecitions. 1t is decocted with the run
rers Of the willowherb, Epilobium
augustifolium, or the fruit of the
whortleberry, vaccinium uglinosum,
and made into highly intoxicating liq-
uor called monka mohr by the Russians.
This practice, common enough among
the tribes of northern Asiatic Russia, is
now confined almost entirely to the no.
madic Korjakes, a people inhabitating
the region near the Gulf of Penyhnsk,
Behring Strait. The intoxicating liz
uor from this mushroom was much US
ed among the tribe of Northern Asia
tic Russia until the came in closer con-
tact with the Russians from whom they
learned the habit of drinking spirits.
KEENAN, says that the habitual use
of this liquor completely skaters the
nervous system, and it's sale by Russian
traders to the natives has been made
penal offence. Like the opium trade
in China, however, in spite of the
strongest prohibition printable bust
ness is done. The mushroom does not
grow on the barren steppes over which
these nomadic tribes wander and the
fabulous prices for the intoxicating
mushrooms, and twenty dollars worth
of furs may be bought with a single
specimen. They are generally collected
in hot weather and strung up to dry,
but they are more priced when found
already dried on the ground. In the
latter case their intoxicating qualities
are more powerful that when artificial
ly prepared. When naturally dried the
mushroom is rolled up like bolus and
swallowed by the natives without |
which they say disorders
the stomach. One large or two small |
specimens swallowed whole are suffic- |
lent to produce a pleasant intoxication |
FOR a whole day, and if water be drunk |
Immediately after the narcotic principle |
s increased and the sensation prolong- |
ID. Three or four mushrooms diluted in |
4 decoction OF wilowherb of whortle- |
Derry would make large company
trunk.
So enduring are the effects of this
poison that persons have been intoxi-
lated by eating the flesh of a reindeer
which had been killed shortly after
eeding upon the mushroom, and child
Ell nave Deen poisoned with the milk
# women under the influence of this in
zones from one or two hours after the
mushroom has been swallowed. A wild
md furious excitement is produced, but
loes not seem to be followed by any I'M
pleasant results. In some cases the
ymptoms are often accompanied by
agility and enormous in
rease of muscular strength. Instances
re recorded of men under the influence
# this poison running ten miles carry
ng on their backs a sack of flour weigh
ng 120 pounds, which in their normal
ondition they could barely lift. These
eople personify this mushroom and as
ert that they are only obeying it's
ehests when they commit suicide or
Their crimes under it's influence They
ave recourse to the use of this intoxi-
ant when they wish to fortify them
elves for premeditated assassination.
The acrid principle possessed by this
Mushroom is the came as that which is
Ound in mashish and Indian hemp. 1t |
one Of the commonest of Scandinay-
IN plants, and the inha bitants of that
f.