ARE MUSHROOMS POISONOUS?

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 5, Issue 1327, 14 March 1883, Page 2

ARE MUSHROOMS POISONOUS?

The deaths which are frequently reported fionr the consumption of supposed edible fungi, render the question; "Are mushrooms poisonous! 1 ' on important one, Professor Ponfick, of Breakup has lately (says the Times, of Nov, 24); made experiments on the common miisliroom, and the practical results obtained are interest' ing and valuable. It appears that all common mushrooms are poisonous—a fact not sufficiently understood—but cooking deprives them in a greater or less degree of their poisonous qualities. Tho repeated washing with cold water which they usually-undergo' to clean them takes away a portion of the poison, and boiling does the rest; but the water in whioh they hare been boiled is highly poisonous, and should always be carefully disposed of. Experiments which Professor Poiifick made on do«s shewed that if a dog ate 1 per cent, of its own weight of raw rm;ir» rooms it fell siok, but recovered; if it ate ono and a half per cent the poison had a more violent but not fatal etlect, and if it ate 2 per cent it was inevitably -fatal. The water in which mushroonu had been boiled wßs far more poisonous than the raw mushrooms; while the mushrooms thusloiled could betaken without hurt to the amount of ten per cent of the weight of the dog's body. Washing with cold water does not remove all the poison, so that mushrooms ihuß propared were poisonous when taken in largequan tities. Dried mushrooms are still dangerous fur from twelve to twenty days, and also the water in which they' have beon boiled. They require to be dried for at least a whole month, and are only Bafe alter four month's drying. These are impurant fads to be borne in mind.