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.