"Some and of those whose taste is very are injurious to man. bitter and unpleasant, and whose precautions," says Persoon, "are to be observed in the method of gathering mushrooms. It is well, so far as may be possible, to collect them in dry weather, and especially after the fall of dew; to take them in their mature state, and even before the entire disappearance of the top; for when they are too ripe, their substance becomes flaccid, and putrefies, or worms are generally on it. Instead of tearing them from the soil, it is better to cut off the footstalks near the ground; else this will insinuate itself into the pores and alveoli. * smell is disgusting. It should however be remarked, that there are some eatable mushrooms having a smart, garlicky, or slightly acid taste. Those mushrooms should be rejected, which are filled with a milky juice, that ordinarily is acrid. According to M. Persoon, the color cannot be regarded as affording very certain characteristics; though this botanist thinks it to be established, that mushrooms of good quality are white, pale, of a clear and golden yellow, or of a claret and violet red; this last tint is observed in the whole or only in a part of the vegetable; but more particularly in the leaves. Bad mushrooms, on the contrary, have a lemonyellow or a bloodred colThe dark brown color of the top will not serve to distinguish the good from the bad, since it is common to both. The more white, compact, dry, and brittle is the substance of the mushroom, the less mischievous it is, provided it does not offer the unpleasant taste and smell, of which we have spoken. or. Mushrooms are to be rejected which have done flowering, that is, which are fading and undergoing decomposition; for then they lose their flavor, acquire a bad taste, and become dangerous. The presence of worms and snails on mushrooms does not prove their good quality, as is commonly believed, for these animals are nourished quite as well on species that *There is, however, a variety of white bulbous amanita, which is very poisonous. There are some poisonous species of agaric, the top of which is violet bordering on purple; but the leaves have not this color. "After having chosen the healthy kinds, it is still necessary, before using them, to clear them of the leaves and tubes; the footstalk, which is ordinarily of a less delicate texture, is often cut off. As to the boleti, they ought to be cut, in order to see if they will change color and become blue, in which case it would be imprudent to eat them; then they are to be soaked in cold or lukewarm water, with just enough vinegar to whiten them; this water should be thrown away. It is said that by this management the most poisonous mushrooms may be eaten with safety. Their digestion is promoted, in the first place, by chewing them well, and by proper condiments, such as oil or butter, yolk of egg, salt, wine, and vinegar. They should not be kept long after their preparation, for they readily change, and acquire bad properties." Treatment. Experiments have proved that the most poisonous mushrooms, if cut up into little pieces and allowed to soak a long time in vinegar, strong salt and water, and ether, lose their poisonous properties; while the vinegar, the salted water, and the ether, have dissolved all the active principles, and become converted into powerful poisons. From this fact we may conclude, that in a case of poisoning by mushrooms, these liquids should never be given till the mushroom has been evacuated either upwards or downwards; in truth they would dissolve the poisonous part in the stomach, and thus render it more active and energetic. So soon as the symptoms of poisoning are observed, three grains of tartar emetic are administered in a tumblerful of water: a quarter of an hour after, another glass of water, containing three grains of tartar emetic, three or four grains of emetine, for which a scruple of ipecacuanha, or Indian root, may be substituted, and an ounce of Glauber's salt, is given in three doses with intervals of twenty minutes. After vomiting is excited, the mushrooms, which may have reached the bowels, are to be evacuated by means of purgatives. A spoonful of castor oil is given every half hour; and an injection is administered, prepared by boiling two ounces of cassia,-cassia fistula,-and half a drachm of senna in a quart of water for fifteen minutes, and adding half an ounce of Epsom salt, sulphate of magnesia. If an evacuation is not procured, the injection may be repeated three times. Finally, should these means fail to effect the discharge of the mushrooms, and should the disease be making progress, an ounce of tobacco must be boiled for fifteen minutes in a quart of water, and the strained liquid be given by injection; vomiting is almost always produced by the employment of this remedy. After the poison is evacuated, the patient should take some spoonfuls of a potion composed of four ounces of the water of orange flowers, quarter of an ounce of ether, and two ounces of simple syrup, or of syrup of orange peel. If the disease continues to increase, and the patient suffers acute pain in the abdomen, sugared water is prescribed, or solution of gum, or flaxseed tea, or decoction of marsh mallow, althæa officinalis; cloths wet with these liquids are laid on the painful parts, and a warm bath is given. If the pain does not yet abate, ten or twelve leeches are applied to the most sensible parts of the belly, and the management is observed which was pointed out in treating of the acrid poisons. If it should happen that before any assistance can be rendered to the patient, he already has much fever, and swelling and pain in the belly, if the tongue is dry and the thirst extreme, and the heat of the skin, mouth and throat burning, it will be necessary to abandon the irritating purgatives which we have recommended; and to draw blood from the arm, apply leeches to the belly, and employ fomentations and injections of flaxseed. back, the chest expands with difficulty, respiration ceases or is greatly impeded, and the patient dies of asphyxy or suffocation; death takes place even in a few minutes, if a considerable quantity of the poison has been swallowed. None of these substances inflame the parts to which they are applied. The effects of some among them are not constant, but come in repeated fits, in the intervals of which the individual appears to be little affected. Nux Vomica. The vomic nut, which is frequently employed to destroy dogs and cats, is also poisonous to man, though the contrary has been asserted by some physicians. It should therefore be managed with caution. It owes its poisonous properties to the strychnia and brucea which it contains. Upas Tieuté. The bohon upas is the juice of a plant, a species of strychnos, native of Java, with which the savages poison their arrows, to render them fatal. It is difficult to form an idea of the rapidity with which these poisoned arms occasion death. St. Ignatius's Bean. This fruit of the strychnos Ignatii, or Ignatia amara, is analogous to the nux vomica in its chemical composition. It owes its poisonous properties to its strychnia and brucea. False Angustura. This appears to be the bark of the strychnos colubrinum, and has occasioned fatal mistakes by being confounded with the angustura of the shops, the bark of the Bomplandia trifoliata. Its poisonous qualities are to be ascribed to the presence of the vegetable alkali, brucea. - Strychnine, or Strychnia. Strychnia is a vegetable alkali containing azote, or nitrogen. It is a powder, without smell, of a very bitter taste, almost insoluble in water, soluble in alcohol, to which it communicates the common alkaline property of restoring their color to blue vegetable infusions that have been reddened by an acid; exposed to heat, it swells, is decomposed, and yields carbon. There are few poisonous substances posessing so much energy as strychnia has. Brucine, or Brucea. This is another vegetable azotic alkali, in the form of oblique prisms or foliated masses, of a white color resembling that of mother of pearl, inodorous, bitter, fusible, soluble in water, giving a green color to blue vegetable infusions, soluble in alcohol, becoming red by the addition of nitric acid; it is less poisonous than strychnia. Upas Antiar. This is the juice of the Antiaris toxicaria, a tree which grows in Java, and which is employed by the Indians to poison their arrows it is very active, when introduced into wounds. Ticuna. The ticuna, or American poison, is an extract prepar ed by the Indians from the juice of certain plants, and particularly of the amyris toxifera. When it is dry it may be inhaled and applied to the eyes without danger; the vapor that rises when it is laid on burning coals, is not poisonous. It is very dangerous when it is applied to deep wounds, especially if the part of the arrow that contains it has been dipped in warm water. Camphor. Camphor is a useful remedy in many cases, and few physicians think it to be poisonous; it is nevertheless proved that when dissolved in oil or any other fluid and given in considerable quantity, it may occasion severe accidents and even death. Menispermum cocculus. Cocculus Indicus. The berries, and particularly the picratoxine which they contain, a vegetable alkali to which they owe their activity, are poisonous to man, to fishes, some birds, goats, crocodiles, &c. Treatment. When any one of these substances has been taken into the stomach, an emetic should be given, and the fauces irritated with the fingers or a quill, that vomiting may be produced; it next becomes necessary to counteract the asphyxy, which is the principal cause of death; for this purpose air is blown into the lungs. Some spoonfuls of a potion made of two ounces of water, two drachms of ether, two drachms of oil of turpentine, and half an ounce of sugar, should be administered internally every ten minutes. When the poison has been applied to wounds, or introduced by means of arrows, these must first be extracted; the wound must be burnt with a red hot iron, and a ligature tied tightly around the limb above the wounded place; if the patient is a robust man, blood should be taken from his arm. The potion recommended in the last paragraph should be given, and asphyxy counteracted by inflating the lungs. Salt and water, which is employed by the Indians, and is regarded as an antidote to these poisons, ought to be rejected from the treatment. THE YELLOW FEVER. Towards the end of last year a French physician of the name of Chervin, returning to Europe after very extensive travels, and convinced that the yellow fever was not contagious, addressed a petition to the Chamber of Deputies, pray ing the postponement of the formation of several sanitary establishments at that time in contemplation. The Chamber referred Dr. Chervin's petition to the Minister of the Interior, who again referred it to the Académie de Médecine. A committee was appointed to investigate the subject. By the report which this committee have recently made, it appears, that Dr. Chervin had visited all those parts of America in which the yellow fever exercised its ravages; and had carefully interrogated the practitioners of medicine with respect to the mode in which the malady was transmissible. Six hundred and eleven documents, having every possible character of authenticity, were furnished him by five hundred and thirtyone medical men; of whom four hundred and eightythree do not believe that the yellow fever is contagious, and only fortyeight maintain the opposite opinion. Dr. Chervin also collected other documents in the various parts of Spain which were the theatre of the memorable epidemic of 1821. They are less favorable to the party of the noncontagionists. The report concludes by declaring that Dr. Chervin's documents are entitled to the most serious attention of government. LECTURES ON BATHING. A Dublin Journal, speaking of Sir Arthur Clarke's publication on bathing for the cure of cutaneous diseases, states, that he has just concluded his summer course of lectures on what may be termed scientific bathing; and adds, "we cannot avoid noticing the simplicity of a vapor bathing apparatus, which he constructed for restoring animal heat in cases of suspended animation from drowning, as well as for the purposes of bathing. The facility and expedition with which this apparatus may be applied is almost incredible. It needs but the flame of a candle to produce any necessary degree of heat that may be required, and is so portable that it may be carried any distance by a single person, without the least inconvenience. A chamber is formed by hoops, or arches, over which a covering of leather is to be drawn. In this the patient is placed, either lying in a bed, reclining on a couch, or sitting on a chair. By means of a number of tubes, which fit one within another, and which can be carried in the pocket, a small stove with a flue is formed; one end being introduced into the chamber, a medicated fluid it then put into a small cauldron in the bottom of the stove, and ignited by the flame of a candle. The apparatus is then complete, and the process may be carried on for any length of time. In this hot air bath, the vapor of sulphur, of camphor, of iodine, and other gaseous substances, were introduced, and their operations on the body explained." By these processes, it is affirmed that great cures have been performed. CASES TREATED BY THE ALCOHO LIC EXTRACT OF STRYCHNINE. right arm was found in a state of semiflexion on the fore arm, which was in a state of pronation; the infra scapular and supra scapular muscles, the deltoid, biceps, &c., were very painful. Frictions and an embrocation of the oil of hyoscyamus were ordered to the shoulder, arm, and forearm. In two days the pain was found to be greatly relieved, and in a few days more it was nearly gone, but the arm could not be moved. Pills of the alcoholic extract of strychnine were now ordered, each containing half a grain; one was directed to be taken night and morning. Motions of the arm were produced, at first of an involuntary kind, and painful, but by degrees controlled by the patient, and becoming easier and more extensive. In a little time the patient took four pills a day. Iuvoluntary movements, with pain, were again the result; but these ceased, voluntary movement became practicable, and the medicine was discontinued. The patient was able to resume his occupation in less than three weeks after commencing the strychnine. Nocturnal Incontinence of Urine. -The two sons of M. K., one aged thirteen, the other fourteen, both of a lymphatic constitution, had been subject, from birth, to nocturnal incontinence of urine. Half a grain of the alcoholic extract of strychnine was prescribed night and morning. In three days the incontinence disappeared, and did not return so long as the medicine was taken. Relapses occurred twice, and the effect of the strychnine was the em- same. The medicine was then given for a month, and the two boys were completely cured.-Archives Générales. Rheumatic Paralysis.--M. M., aged twentyfour, of a lymphatic nervous temperament, and employed as a writer, was suddenly seized with a difficulty of moving his right arm. The arm was not at first painful, but it soon became so; and the pain rose to such a degree as to be insupportable. Leeches, and a blister below the clavicle, were the means ployed. When the patient was first seen by M. Marionet, who gives the account of his case, the |