disease or when they were gluttons, “to eat what pleased them, finding
that many apparently unfit substances” (_which funguses are not_) “agreed
with the stomach merely because they were suitable to its feelings.” Why
quote Abernethy?—but that good sense, backed by personal experience in
such matters, are always worth quoting—who says, “Nothing hurts me that
I eat with appetite and delight;” or Withers, unless for a like reason,
who is “of opinion that the instinct of the palate, not misguided by
preconceived opinion, may be satisfied, not only with impunity, but even
with advantage.” It is the rule by which the brute creation is taught
to shun its poison and to choose its food: to a considerable extent, it
should be ours also.
[78] Roques, ‘Traité sur les Champignons.’
[79] Æschines.
[80] “Pratensibus optima fungis Natura est.”—_Horace._
[81] Locality has a great effect upon almost all that we eat: our very
mutton varies in different counties; compare the town-bred gutter-fed
poultry of London with that of twenty miles around; fish vary, the tench
out of different ponds are different; fruits vary with the soil; are
potatoes everywhere the same?
[82] Persons have fancied themselves poisoned when they were not;
indigestion produced by mushrooms is looked upon with fear and suspicion,
and if a medical man be called in, the stomach-pump used, and relief
obtained, nothing will persuade either patient or practitioner that this
has not been a case of poisoning. “You have saved my life,” says the one.
“I think you will not be persuaded to eat any more mushrooms for some
time,” says the other: and so they part, each under the impression that
he knows more about mushrooms than anybody else can tell him.
[83] It grows not only throughout Europe, but in India also.
[84] We should apply the same rules of discrimination here as elsewhere.
Have we not picked potatoes for our table out of the deadly family of
_Solana_? selected with care the _garden_ from the _fool’s_ parsley?
And do we not pickle gherkins, notwithstanding their affinity to the
_Elaterium momordicum_, which would poison us if we were to eat it?
[85] “N’est-il pas bien plus simple et bien plus sûr en même temps,
_puisqu’on le peut_, de prévenir les maux, que de spéculer sur les moyens
si souvent incertains de les guérir?”—Bull. Pl. Vénén. p. 11.
[86] _Vide_ Vittadini and Roques.
[87] Roques fell in with two soldiers at St. Cyr, who had gathered
and were in the act of carrying off twice the quantity of this fungus
necessary to kill the regiment, when he interfered, and no doubt saved
many lives in doing so. The soldiers, it appears, had mistaken the
_Ag. necator_ for the _Hydnum repandum_, to which it bears some slight
resemblance in colour, and in nothing else.
[88] The _converse_ of this remark by no means holds true; the _Amanita
verna_, the _Am. phalloides_, the _Ag. semiglobatus_, _dryophilus_, and
_muscarius_, though amongst the most deadly of this class of plants, do
not change colour on being cut; the flesh of the first two is, moreover,
of a tempting whiteness, like that of the common puff-ball, than which
there is not a safer or a better fungus. “Omnino ne crede colori” is our
only safe motto here.
[89] Johnson’s Dictionary.
[90] He was wrong here: the oak produces both the _Fistulina hepatica_
and the _Agaricus fusipes_, two excellent funguses, particularly the
last, which, properly dressed or pickled, have not many rivals.
[91] As was known to the Greeks, ‘Prepare your funguses with vinegar,
salt, or honey, for thus you will rob them of their poison,’ οὕτω γὰρ
αὐτῶν τὸ πνιγώδες ἀφαιρεῖται.
[92] Vittadini, however, ate largely of this fungus, which he describes
as very disagreeable, though it did not prove poisonous to him.
[93] Puccinelli.
[94] In a whole family, cut off in the year 1843, at Lucca, by dining
on some poisonous Boletuses, drawn and first described by Professor
Puccinelli under the ominous name of _Boletus terribilis_, besides most
extensive ulceration of the mucous coat of the intestines throughout a
very considerable portion of their extent, together with injection of the
vessels of the brain, the lungs were found congested, and the cavities of
the heart distended, with coagula of blood.
[95] For a most interesting record of all the more recent poisonings from
funguses in Italy, the reader may consult Professor delle Chiaje’s work
on Toxicology. The following, the only one I shall give, is to be found
in Vittadini’s excellent work on funguses:—
“Giovanna Ballerini, montanara, d’ anni 26, moglie di Luigi Dodici,
nativa di Brugnello, Stato Sardo, e domiciliata in Lardirago, distretto
di Belgiojoso, provincia di Pavia, mangiò la sera del 19 maggio, 1831, in
compagnia di due suoi nipoti, Giuseppe Ballerini d’ anni 6, e Maria, d’
anni 12, buona copia d’ agarici di primavera, cotti nella minestra. Erano
dessi stati colti nel vicin bosco della Rossa, e da quella sventurata
probabilmente scambiati coi Prugnuoli (_Ag. mouceron_, Bull.), funghi
generalmente conosciuti da quegli alpigiani sotto il nome di Spinaroli,
o Maggenghi. All’ indomani allontanossi Giovanna da casa, come era suo
costume, onde provvedere ai proprj bisogni, ma trascorse alcune ore venne
assalita da forte oppressione all’ epigastrio, da nausee, da conati di
vomito, ecc., e costretta infine verso il meriggio dalla gravezza del
patire a tornarsene a casa, ove trovò dallo stesso male tormentati anche
i nipoti. I principali fenomeni morbosi che presentavano quegli infelici
all’ arrivo di Giovanna erano: nausee continue, dolori acutissimi allo
stomaco ed alle intestina, deliquj frequenti, convulsioni, ecc. Poco dopo
Maria ed in seguito Giovanna vennero prese da vomito ostinato di materie
bigio-nerastre, a cui s’accoppiava bentosto, per colmo di sventura,
un’ abbondante soccorrenza della stessa materia, e più innanzi di
pretto sangue. Impotente a recere, Giuseppe si struggeva in vani conati
di vomito. Chiamato verso sera in loro soccorso il sig. dott. Luigi
Casorati, medico condotto del luogo, mio collega ed amico, s’ adoperò ma
invano per sostare il vomito ed il colera, che specialmente in Maria ed
in Giovanna andavano sempre più imperversando. Le bevande mucilaginose,
il latte, gli oppiati, le fomentazioni ammollienti sull’ addome a nulla
giovarono. Si tentò la sanguigna, ma anche questa senza effetto. Alle ore
7 del mattino del giorno 21, 38 ore circa dall’ ingestione del fungo,
Giuseppe, chi si era ostinatamente rifiutato ad ogni medicina, non era
più; nè miglior sorte incontravano Maria e Giovanna, chi, tradotte all’
ospedale di Pavia, non ostante i soccorsi che vennero loro prodigati,
perivano nella stessa giornata fra le più terribili angosce, e senza
perdere gran fatto l’ uso dei sensi, la prima verso il meriggio, l’
altra verso le ore sette pomeridiane. All’ autopsia del cadavere di
Giuseppe Ballerini, eseguitasi in Lardirago, sotto i miei occhi, dallo
stesso Dottor Casorati che gentilmente me ne fece invito, ed alla
quale assisteva pure il sig. dott. G. Galliotti, si trovò lo stomaco
zeppo di un liquido verdastro, entro cui nuotavano ancora, unitamente
a buona porzione di riso e di erbe, varj pezzetti del fungo non ancora
decomposti, e che potei agevolmente riconoscere a qual parte della pianta
appartenessero; la mucosa di quel viscere sensibilmente injettata, e
coperta, specialmente lungo la piccola curvatura ed in vicinanza del
piloro, di grandi macchie di color roseo-livido intenso. Le intestina
tenui pur esse ove più ove meno injettate, e del color dello scarlatto,
le crasse morbosamente ristrette, ma meno delle tenui ingorgate; sì le
une che le altre vuote d’alimenti, e non contenenti che poca quantità
di muco bigio-nerastro e qualche lombrico. Le meningi erano anch’ esse
sommamente injettate, specialmente la pia; la sostanza del cervello meno
consistente del naturale, punteggiata di rosso, e la base dello stesso
nuotante in una quantità considerabile di siero sanguinolento.”—_Vitt._
p. 340.
[96] When dried, gr. xx.-xxv. will scarcely produce the effects of gr. v.
of the fungus when first gathered.—_Vitt._
[97] The total quantity of moisture absorbed by funguses, during
development and growth, is great; thus, if a number of small Agarics,
still in their wrappers, be placed in wineglasses half filled with
water, this will be rapidly absorbed, even before they break through
their membrane. Moreover, if Agarics or Boletuses, already developed, be
placed in glasses containing so many ounces of water, the amount of which
has been previously ascertained, and equal to that in another glass, by
which to make allowance for what has been lost by evaporation, the result
will generally be that a quantity of water, equal to from one-fourth to
one-third of the full weight of each fungus, will have been absorbed and
exhaled again in two days. The redundant moisture of those plants is
rendered conspicuous if we place a Boletus on a watch-glass, the surface
of which is speedily beaded with drops of water, as if it had been in the
rain; while the quantity of fluid is sometimes so great as to defeat the
object we had in placing it there, viz. that of collecting the spores.
[98] The reader desirous of a detailed account of this interesting
fungus, should consult a small quarto _brochure_ published some years
ago, by Professor Gasparini, of Naples, who was preparing a second
edition in the autumn of 1844, with numerous additions, which has, no
doubt, been reprinted.
[99] Or rather, as Professor Tenore has told me, from the _Populus
nigra_, var. _Neapolitana_.
[100] Müller declares that fermentation is itself a fungus, which
continues to feed and multiply so long as it finds the elements of
nutrition in the liquid in which it originates. This, then, is employing
one fungus life to evoke another.
[101] All blocks of this nut-wood do not bear. Professor Sanguinetti
informs me that the peasants in the Abruzzi, who bring in these logs,
know perfectly which will succeed and which will not; “a knowledge,” he
adds, “to which closest attention during all the years that I have been
employed by the Papal Government as superintendent of the fungus market,
has not yet enabled me to attain.”
[102] On digging up the earth in the neighbourhood of a ring in which _A.
prunulus_ was at the time growing, I found the mould to the depth of a
foot and more, hoary, with an arachnoid spawn strongly charged with the
odour of this mushroom. Persoon found that to destroy a fairy-ring of the
same Agaric, it was necessary to dig to a considerable depth, when the
next crop that came up was disseminated sporadically over the ground.
[103] This was the opinion of the Greeks, who called funguses γηγενεῖς,
or earthborn.
[104] Just as in the inorganic world, chemical analysis is frequently the
precursor of new forms of matter resulting from the new affinities which
take place, so when a vegetable dies, and the synthesis of its structural
arrangement is broken up, nature frequently avails herself of this season
of decomposition, to bring new individuals out of the decaying structures
of the old, which, in consequence of a beautiful pre-arrangement, find
there all the requisite supplies for their growth and future maintenance.
[105] Some mycologists however, as Persoon and Roques, conceive that
the common dust of puff-balls is analogous to the pollen of the higher
plants, while the real seed is to be sought and found in a finer dust,
which is entangled in the reticular meshes at the base of these plants.
Others suppose the fluid which bathes the interiors of those little
organs, in which the seeds are packed, to be in other funguses the source
of their fecundation. But these at present are mere conjectures.
[106] Several byssoid growths are in this predicament.
[107]
“Who seek for life in creatures they dissect,
Will lose it in the moment they detect.”—_Pope._
[108] The colours of the spores are of considerable practical use in
distinguishing the members of the large family of Agarics, some of which
are determined by them.
[109] It appears too mechanical an explanation of a phenomenon so purely
vital as growth, to make it in any way dependent on a system of wedges,
however ingeniously applied.
[110] “The facility with which these floccose threads are injured, and
their connection destroyed, explains,” says Vittadini, “the difficulty of
transplanting funguses with success.”
[111] The great rapidity with which these wonderful changes succeed each
other in funguses with a volva, is widely different from what occurs in
those that have none. Thus the Morel takes thirty-one days, Geasters six,
and many Tubers twelve months for their full development: so that “To
come up like a mushroom” is a proverb with limitations.
[112] When the base is formed before the receptacle, the fibres are
continuous; but when the receptacle has been formed first, as the fibres
of the last cannot be transmitted through those already formed, these two
parts remain distinct.
[113] In the first instance the fungus is called _annulate_, in the
second _cortinate_.
[114] _i. e._ when these happen to be of different hues originally,
the fragments of the veil being in some places covered by those of the
wrapper, in others naked.
[115] Raii Syn. 2.
[116] λευκὸς, _white_, and σπόρος, a _seed_.
[117] _Ag. ovoides_ (Bull.), which is white, and _Ag. Cæsareus_ (Scop.),
which is red, with yellow gills, belong to this division.
[118] λεπὶς, a _scale_.
[119] _Armilla_, a _ring_.
[120] This ring seems formed by the external fibres of the stalk, which,
having reached the posterior extremity of the gills, are reflected
backwards to the margin of the pileus when they become attached.
[121] _Limax_, a _slug_.
[122] θρὶξ, a _hair_, and λῶμα, a _fringe_.
[123] Not described by Vittadini among the esculent funguses of Italy,
and so probably unknown there.
[124] _Russulus_, red.
[125] γάλα, _milk_, and ῥέω, to _flow_.
[126] κλίτος, a _declivity_, and κυβὴ, a _head_.
[127] δασὺς, _thick_, and φύλλον, a _leaf_.
[128] καμάρα, a _vault_, and φύλλον, a _leaf_.
[129] χόνδρος, a _ligament_, and ποῦς, a _foot_.
[130] κόλλυβος, a _copper coin_.
[131] μύκης, a _fungus_.
[132] ὀμφαλὸς, _umbilicus_.
[133] πλευρὸν, a _side_, and ποῦς, a _foot_.
[134] ὑπὸ, _under_, and ῥόδεος, _rose-coloured_.
[135] κλίτος, a _declivity_, and πῖλος, a _cap_.
[136] λεπτὸς, _slender_.
[137] Nola, _a little bell_.
[138] ἐκκοιλόω, _to hollow out_.
[139] _Cortina_, _a veil_.
[140] τελαμὼν, _lint_.
[141] ἱνὸς, _of a fibre_, λῶμα, a _fringe_.
[142] δέρμα, a _skin_, and κυβὴ, a _head_.
[143] Pratum, a _pasture_.
[144] ψάλιον, a _ring_.
[145] κόπρος, _dung_.
[146] κάνθαρος, a _cup_.
[147] πολὺς, _many_, and πόρος, a _pore_.
[148] βῶλος, a _ball_.
[149] Named from the _fistulous_ nature of the hymenium.
[150] ὕδνον, a _truffle_, etc.
[151] _Clava_, a _club_.
[152] Name Latinized from the German _Bofist_.
[153] They are reproduced in these rings about the same time every year,
the circle continuing to enlarge till it breaks up at last into irregular
lines, which is a sure sign to the collector that the _Prunulus_ is about
to disappear from that place, just as the presence of an unbroken ring is
conclusive of a plentiful harvest the next spring.
[154] These lobes, formed by the constriction of the pileus, whilst
emerging from the roots of the grass, are sometimes so much strangulated
as to present the appearance of small stalkless Agarics growing from the
large, and projecting from their sides like ears.
[155] That is, connected by a tooth to the end of the stalk, and not
running down it.
[156] The _Prunulus_ is much prized in the Roman market, where it easily
fetches 30 baiocchi, _i. e._ 15_d._ per lb.; a large sum for any luxury
at Rome. It is sent in little baskets as presents to patrons, fees to
medical men, and bribes to Roman lawyers. When dried, it constitutes the
so-called “Funghi di Genoa,” which are sold on strings throughout Italy.
[157] If the Suillus be indeed the same as the modern Porcino, as its
name would imply, few who know how good it is will be disposed to pity
Martial, who laments his hard case, in having had to eat this fungus at
his patron’s table, while he feasted on the Boletus, _i. e._ the _Ag.
Cæsareus_. It would seem however from this epigram, that the Suillus was
not in Martial’s time, what it now unquestionably is, a favourite with
the rich.
[158] “Il Sorvegliatore fa gettare ai venditori tutti i funghi fracidi e
quelli che crede nocivi, ed è assolutamente proibita la vendita dei così
detti prateroli buoni o cattivi che sieno.”—_Sanguinetti_ (extract from
an unpublished letter).
[159] “This is that variety of _Ag. campestris_ which has been so often
confounded with the _Amanita verna_, and with these the _Ag. albus
virosus_; all these funguses, besides presenting a strong similarity in
appearance, are found in the same locality, and at about the same time of
year.”—_Vitt._
[160] Ude complains that we have none of the light French wines for
sauces except champagne. Cider or perry will, however, be found good
substitutes.
[161] “Hopkirk records an instance of one weighing five pounds six
ounces, and measuring forty-three inches in circumference. Withering
mentions another that weighed fourteen pounds.”—_Berkeley._
[162] “It is commonly supposed that such funguses as change colour afford
thereby a clear evidence of their noxious properties, and yet daily
experience, as far as it went, ought to have led to just the opposite
conclusion. Almost all the poisonous Agarics have a flesh that does _not_
change colour, and we know as yet of no Boletus, many of which _do_ so
change, that is really unsafe to eat.”—_Vitt._
[163] This blue loses much of its intensity by long exposure to the air.
It is moreover to be remarked that in specimens, the flesh of which has
been eaten into by slugs or insects, no change of colour takes place.
[164] This requires further corroboration.
[165] Sc. “Blue Hats” (?), as _Ag. Georgii_ is called “White Caps,” and
_Ag. Oreades_ “Scotch Bonnets.”
[166] This mushroom, famous for the flavour it imparts to rich soups and
gravies, is also used in the French “à la mode” beef shops in London,
with the view of heightening the flavour of that dish. As the aroma is
dissipated by overcooking, it should be thrown in only a few minutes
before serving. The dried Champignon is much more extensively used in
France and Italy than it is in England.
[167] Although the _Ag. oreades_ be, properly speaking, a terrestrial and
not a parasitical fungus, still as it springs up amidst the roots of the
grasses and flourishes by depriving them of their supplies, the herbage
in its neighbourhood is the first to scorch up and wither.
[168] I have, however, found them _white_.
[169] “Dans le département des landes on sème l’Agaricus Palomet. Pour
cela on se contente d’arroser la terre d’un bosquet planté en chênes
avec de l’eau dans laquelle on a fait bouillir une grande quantité
de ces champignons; la culture n’exige d’autres soins que d’éloigner
de ces lieux les chevaux, les pores et les bêtes à cornes, qui sont
très-friandes de ces plantes; ce moyen réussit toujours, mais nous
laissons aux physiciens à nous expliquer pourquoi l’ébullition n’a pas
fait mourir les germes.”—_Thore._
[170] The reader must not conclude from this that soil, any more than
age, will account for such differences; there is a _variety_ of _Ag.
alutaceus_, described by Vittadini, which he says is “endowed with a
very caustic taste, smelling of pepper, and to be avoided.” The kind
_generally_ found in England is probably the same as this, which Bulliard
has described under the name of _Ag. alutaceus acris_.
[171] “Sospettando ragionevolmente dietro le esperienze del Krapf e
del Roques che questo fungo potesse esser nocivo all’ uomo e non agli
animali, ho voluto anch’io sperimentarlo su di me stesso.”—_Vitt._
[172] I lately found a _single_ specimen of it, which Vittadini says is
rare.
[173] On the Poplar and Willow, according to Vittadini; Apple and
Laburnum, on the authority of Berkeley; Elm and Ash, on my own.
[174] In some specimens the gills are _all_ solitary.
[175] Vitt.
[176] It is probable that the varieties here referred to belonged to _Ag.
euosmus_, B. Care must be taken to distinguish between the two, as _Ag.
euosmus_ is an unsafe species.—ED.
[177] Vitt.
[178] A countryman, last spring (1847), stumbled upon a large quantity
in the neighbourhood of Chiselhurst, Kent, and being struck with their
appearance gathered some, and took them to a medical man of the place,
who, not recognizing the plant, suffered the whole to perish! He has
since been made aware of his mistake.
[179] It is a common fraud in the Italian market for the salesmen to soak
them in water; which increases their weight, but spoils their flavour.
[180] In the Roman market the Morell is held in little esteem, and sells
for 4_d._ or 5_d._ per lb. Three varieties of the _esculenta_ are brought
in by the “Asparagarii,” _i. e._ the peasants who gather the _wild_
Asparagus on the hills; viz. the _M. rotunda_, which is almost globose,
_M. vulgaris_, and _M. fulva_, which is of a tawny colour.
[181] Though the _F. hepatica_ grows both upon oak and chestnut trees,
this difference in its origin never perceptibly affects the plant, which
is equally good, whether it be gathered from one or from the other.
[182] Whence the vernacular names, “Orgella,” “Orgelle,” and “Oreille.”
[183] Most authors compare this odour to that of fresh meal, but as
several friends think with me that the above comparison is more accurate,
I have ventured to substitute it.
[184] Mr. Berkeley says rose-coloured; Vittadini pale rust-colour; but
I find that on placing a watch-glass thickly coated with spores on fine
brown-holland, the colours very nearly correspond.
[185] Berk. Brit. Fung.
[186] The lobes are at first nearly white, afterwards of an ash-grey
colour on the under surface; the upper, or that which bears the seed
membrane, continuing white.
[187] Another species of _Peziza_, the _P. cochleata_, grew very
abundantly last spring in Holwood Park, Keston. This species is quite
insipid, and somewhat leathery, but Mr. Berkeley has seen it offered for
sale under the name of Morell.
[188] The toughness is owing to its being stewed too quickly; when
properly sweated with butter, as recommended for _C. coralloides_, it is
quite tender.
[189] There are, in fact, three at first, whereof the external one either
coalesces with the second, or else peels off in shreds, when the other
two become united, and continue to maintain the globular form of the
Puff-ball unimpaired, even after the escape of the seed.
[190] Without appendages.
[191] Vittadini recommends, wherever this fungus grows conveniently for
the purpose, that it should not be all taken at once, but by slices
cut off from the living plant, care being taken not to break up its
attachments with the earth; in this way, he says, you may have a fine
“frittura” every day for a week.
[192] I have been informed that this Puff-ball is sometimes served on
state occasions at the Freemasons’ Tavern.
[193] “Ce Champignon croît au milieu et vers le sommet de l’arbre, de
sorte qu’il n’est pas facile à voir ou à récolter.”—_Persoon._
[194] Berkeley.
[195] In 1843, the friends of a patient, for whom I had occasion to
prescribe some musk, had recourse to many chemists in succession before
the licensed dealer in it could be found, and he was obliged by law to
keep it in his back premises.
[196] Night fires. This is to clear the ground under the Chestnut-trees
for the falling fruits, which might otherwise be lost amidst the heath.
But the practice is unsafe; as many a tree has been charred by the
flames, and some have actually taken fire and given rise to a general
conflagration.
[197] The whole of the species mentioned in the annexed list were
met with by the author this summer and autumn (1847), and partaken
of by himself and friends, viz. _Amanita vaginata_; _Ag. rubescens_,
_procerus_, _prunulus_, _ruber_, _heterophyllus_, _virescens_;
_deliciosus_, _nebularis_, _personatus_, _virgineus_, _fusipes_,
_oreades_, _ostreatus_, _Orcella_, _campestris_ (and its varieties
_edulis_ and _pratensis_), _exquisitus_, _comatus_, and _ulmarius_;
_Cantharellus cibarius_; _Polyporus frondosus_; _Boletus edulis_ and
_scaber_; _Fistulina hepatica_; _Hydnum repandum_; _Helvella lacunosa_;
_Peziza acetabulum_ and _Bovista plumbea_; _Lycoperdon gemmatum_ and
_Clavaria strigosa_.
THE END.
John Edward Taylor, Printer, Little Queen Street, Lincoln’s Inn Fields.
[Illustration: Pl. I.