8. Boiling with a "silver spoon," the staining of the silver
indicating danger.
9. Change of color in the fracture of the fresh mushroom.
10. Slimy or sticky on the top.
11. Having the stems at their sides.
12. Growing in clusters.
13. Found in dark, damp places.
14. Growing on wood, decayed logs, or stumps.
15. Growing on or near manure.
16. Having bright colors.
17. Containing milky juice.
18. Having the gill plates of even length.
19. Melting into black fluid.
20. Biting the tongue or having a bitter or nauseating taste.
21. Changing color by immersion in salt-water, or upon being
dusted with salt.
These present but a selection of the more prevalent notions. Taken
_in toto_, they would prove entirely safe, as they would practically
exclude every species of mushroom or toadstool that grows. But as a
rule the village oracle bases his infallibility upon two or three
of the above "rules," and inasmuch as the entire list absolutely
_omits_ the _only_ one test by which danger is to be avoided, it is
a seven-days' wonder that the grewsome toadstool epitaph is not more
frequent.
[Sidenote: =Absolute worthlessness of above tests=]
I once knew an aged dame who was accepted as a village oracle on
this as well as other topics, such as divining, palmistry, and
fortune-telling, and who ate and dispensed toadstools on a few of
the above rules. Strange to say, she lived to a good old age, and
no increased mortality is credited to her memory as a result of her
generosity.
How are these popular notions sustained by the facts? Let us analyze
them seriatim and confront each with its refutation, the better to show
their entire untrustworthiness.