MATERIA MEDICA AND THERAPEUTICS.
dhicesthetic Action of the Lycoperdon Proteus.—M. Flourens related
some observations made by M. Gerard upon the ansesthetic action of the
lycoperdon proteus. 111 took,” says the author, “ the lycoperdons which
I had gathered last autumn; I collected their substance, and then ex-
perimentalized with about twelve grammes (^ss)of the capillitium, mixed
with the spores. I put this substance, which burns like tinder, upon a
match, which kept up the combustion, and plunged my head into the
smoke for fifteen minutes. The sharpness of the smoke incommoded me
at first, and caused a slight degree of irritation of the pharynx; then I
had a coryza, which soon passed away; then a sensation of smarting in
the eyes, which I was obliged to close; but the feeling of stupor was
scarcely perceptible. During the inspiration of the smoke I withdrew
from the apparatus, after the carbonization of the capillitium, and in a
few instants I felt a sharp pain, weight of head, and a peri-cephalic con-
striction, without actual suffering. My eyes, which had become red,
shut involuntarily, although there was no feeling of somnolence. After
four hours, the head became free, but the malaise continued six hours.
The day afterwards the conjunctiva was no longer red, but the irritation
of the eyelids continued. I experienced none of the lethargy mentioned
in the Gazette des Ilopitaux, where it is stated, that the animals submit-
ted to its action fell into a condition resembling death.
I am sure that the properties of the lycoperdon bovista and L. excipul®
fermis are the same a3 those of the lycoperdon proteus.”—Med. Times
and Gaz.