The Savannah morning news., 1900-06-23
IF HE HAD EATEN ToADsTooLs.
Senator bacon Could Have Tackled
Some Kinds with snfety.

The recent reported illness of Senator
A. o. Bacon, attributed to poisoning from
the eating of toadstools for mushrooms
though since pronounced to be mistake
has drawn the public attention to the
subject and a short account of mushrooms
and how TO tell the edible from the pois-
onous variety may not be without inter
est.
DR.. w. II. Elliott of this city, who has
given the subject twenty years study
and is an undoubted authority, says ms
a primary fact that there is no reason for
the popular classification of mushrooms,
thereby meaning the edible fungi and
toadstools, referring to the poisonous va
riety. They are all mushrooms. he said.
and Of the 800 or more varieties only one
family the Amanita. contains any that
are deadly, though there are others that
are not wholesome, and which, IL eaten,
will produce nausea and other unQlaas-
ant effects. Not even all Of the Amanita
are poisonous; indeed, the greater num-
Der are not. for of the twenty or more va
rleties only about eight are known to be
deadly.
One Of the peculiariues OF the mushroom
family is that while 1t is of immense
rarge and variety. there is only one spe-
cies that can be cultivated. This is the
Campessris, or the mushroom of com
merce 1t IS cultivated extensively in
France. and TO some extent in this coun-
try. But here the supply is by no
means equal to the demand and the
Campestris finds n ready market in the
chief Northern cities at 81 per pound,
While in France the usual price is about
one-sixth of that amount Closely re-
lated 10 the Campestris, and by many
authorities considered TO be only a larger
variety of the same species, is the horse
mushroom, which is almost If not equal
" as paIatable as the lesser variety.
To distinguish the deadly mushroom
from the edible variety, said DR.. Elliott,
is very simple, for all of the noXious
members of the Amanita family have
white gills, and cup-like rim at the
base of the stem; though some of the
edible ones are similarly marked, ii IS
the safest course to let all mushrooms
with these characteristics alone, unless
one is quite well acquainted with the
whole family.
one of the most deadly of the Amanita
is Agaricus muscarus or, as it is other
wise known the fly Amanlta. 1t was
with Il poison secured from this species
tnHI NDe lldildH ltOlsOlltiS VI tit NlihhiC
Ages dispatched many of their victims
Many varieties of both the edible and
the poisonous mushrooms are to be found
in this vicinity. One Of the most COM
mon. which must be classed with the I'M
wholesome ones, Is Morgan's Lapiota,
which grows quite abundantly immedi
ately after the spring and summer rains.
Il can be recognized easily by the green
spores with which it abounds.
Another peculiar feature of the subject
that is not generally known. is that the
mushroom itself is not really the plant,
but must be classed rather as the fruit
of slender white underground vine,
which is the plant proper.
Despite popular opinion to the contrary,
there are but few cases of mushroom
poisoning. When it does occur however,
the symptoms are almost identical with
those of Asiatic cholera and are developed
within about twelve hours after the pois-
on has been taken into the stomach; if
not correctly treated, it proves fatal in
two or three days. The usual remedy for
such cases is one sixtieth of a grain
Of sulphate atropia administered hyper
dermicaIly every hour or two. until the
strength of the pulse is maintained.
DR.. Elliott, besides having already a
large number of books on the subject of
fungi, is looking forward with much
pleasure to a new volume that will soon
be issued by Capt McIlvaine, entitled
Eight Hundred Mushrooms, and How to
Cook Them"