Without giving descriptive attention to those Mushrooms (_Agarics_,
_Boleti_, and others) which are edible, and [363] of which
over a hundred may be enumerated, as beyond our purpose when
treating of curative Herbal Simples, notice will be bestowed
here on two productions of the Mushroom nature--the Puff Ball and
the Fly Agaric,--because of their medicinal qualities.
It may be first briefly stated that the _Agaricus campestris_, or field
Mushroom, is the kind most commonly eaten in England, being
highly nitrogenous, and containing much fat. This may be readily
distinguished from any harmful fungus by the pink colour of its
gills, the solidity of its stem, the fragrant anise-like odour which it
possesses, and the separability of its outer skin. Other edible
Mushrooms which grow with us, and are even of a better quality
than the above, are the _Agaricus augustus_ and the _Agaricus
elvensis_, not to mention the _Chanatrelle_, said to be unapproachable
for excellence.
The Greeks were aware of edible fungi, and knew of injurious sorts
which produced a sense of choking, whilst subsequent wasting of
the body occurred. Athenaeus quotes an author who said: "You will
be choked like those who waste after eating mushrooms." The
Romans also esteemed some fungi as of so exquisite a flavour that
these would be stolen sooner than silver or gold by anyone entrusted
with their delivery:--
"Argentum, atque aurum facile est laenamque togamque.
Mittere, boletos mittere difficile est."
Mushrooms were styled by Porphry _deorum filii_, and "without
seed, as produced by the midwifery of autumnal thunderstorms, and
portending the mischief which these cause." "They are generally
reported to have something noxious in them, and not without
reason; but they were exalted to the second course of the Caesarean
tables with the noble title 'bromatheon,' [364] a dainty fit for the
gods, to whom they sent the Emperor Claudius, as they have many
since to the other world." "So true it is he who eats Mushrooms
many times, _nil amplius edit_, eats no more of anything."
The poisonous kinds may be commonly recognised by their possessing
permanently white gills which do not touch the stem; and
a thin ring, or frill, is borne by the stem at some distance from
the top, whilst the bottom of the stem is surrounded by a loose
sheath, or volva. If "phalline" is the active poisonous principle, this
is not rendered inert by heat in cooking; but the helvellic acid of
other sorts disappears during the process, and its fungi are thus
made non-poisonous. There is a popular belief that Mushrooms
which grow near iron, copper, or other metals, are deadly; the same
idea obtaining in the custom of putting a coin in the water used for
boiling Mushrooms in order that it may attract and detach any
poison, and so serve to make them wholesome.