Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Volume 2.djvu/255

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MUS

The Word Ma/e, according to Fhomutus, is derired from the Greek fjZi&ai, which fignifies the fame with (til&y, to fearch. Others derive it from o/wjotwa, fimilar, or alike; all the Sciences being bound and united together. Eufebitts derives it from jXtiUe^ to initiate, to inftrucl. Plato and Scaliger from fZdues&di, cbfletricare, becaufe to them are at- tributed the Invention ot the Arts; and 'tis they who pro- duced them. Laflly, Heinfius and Vejfiul derive it from the Hebrew lIBltf Mufar, Science, "DifcipUna.

The M«/ejare call'd by various Names j Carmen*, Heli- coniades, Farna/Jides, Aonides, Fierides t Fegafides, Aganni$>tdes s Thefpiades, Libethndes, and Cajialides.

MUSHROOM, or Mushroom, in Natural Hiftory, a Plant, of a Form and Structure very different from that of all other Plants; having neither Seeds, nor Flowers, that have ever yet been difcover'd. See Plant, Seed, &c.

There are various kinds of Mujbrooms ; and the Vulgar call by this Name all that come under the general Head of Fungus's. See Fungus.

They are all ufed with fome fufpicion, tho' fome are more harmlefs, as well as more delicious than others. Thofe ufed among us, are Mufbroomof the Wood, call'd "Merits, and of the Meadows, call'd Cbamfign'tons, which are gathered in Autumn, and elleemed tor their Whitenefs above, their Vermilion underneath, and the Sweetnefs of their Smell.

Mr. Bradley mentions a hundred kinds of Mttjbrooms, which he has feen in England^ befides thofe very numerous fmall ones, which conllitute the Mouldinefs of Liquors, Fruits, $£c. which lall are fuch quick Growers, that they arrive at perfection in lefs than 12 Hours. See Mouldiness.

The Fungoides only differs from aMuJbroom in its ex- ternal Form j the Coralloides are of the fame Species, tho of a different Name, as being branch'd like Coral 5 and Truffles come under the fame kind. See Coralloides,

1 RUFFLES, £jyc.

Matthiolns mentions "Mttjbrooms which weigh'd 30 Pounds each, and were as yellow as Gold. Fer, Imperatus tells us he faw fome which weigh *d above a hundred Pounds ; and, to add no more, the Journal des Scavans furnifliesus with an account of fome growing on the Frontiers of #KHgflry which were a full Chariot Load.

The Origin and Production of this Plant has extremely puzzled the Boranifts. How a Plant fhould be produced without a Seed, is a Myftery 5 and yet thebeft Microfcppes are not able to difcover any appearance of a Seed ; and the manner of cultivating this Plant, feems to make it Ml more probable that it has not any.

M. Tournefort gives a very curious Account of their Cul- ture, in the Memoirs of the French Academy, the Subltance of which we mall here prefent the Reader withal.

All the Secret of bringing up Mufbrooms fpeedily and in abundance, confiits in ranging Balls of Horfe-Dung about the bignefs of the Fill, in Lines, at thedillance of about three Feet from each other, and at the depth of one Foot under Ground, and covering thefe over with Mould, and that again with Horfe-Dung.

If this he done in April 5 in the beginning of ' Angufi the pieces of Dung will begin to whiten, and grow mouldy, be- ing llrew'd all over with little Hairs, or fine white Threads, branch'd, and woven about the Straws whereof the Dung js compofed. The Dung now lofes its former excrementi- tious Smell, and fpreads an admirable Odour of Mtt/b- rooins.

According to all Appearance thefe white Threads are no other than the open'd Seeds or Buds of Mufhrooms, which Seeds were before inclofed in the Dung, but in fo fmall a compafs, that they could not be perceiv'd till after they had mot themfelves into little Hairs. By degrees the Ex- tremity of thefe Hairs grows round into a kind of Button, which fwelling by little and little, at length opens itfelf into a Mufiroom, whereof the lower part is a kind of Pe- chde bearded in the place where it enters the Ground, and at the other end loaden with a kind of roundifli Capital or Head, in manner of a Calotte,, which expands itfelf with- out producing either Grains or Flowers that are fenfible 5 the bottom is fprcad with Lamina, which proceeding from the Centre to the Circumference, may be call'd the Leaves of the Mitjbroom.

At the foot of each Mujbroom are found an infinite num- ber of little ones not bigger than the Head of a Pin, when the others are at their growth. The Buds of the Mufi- rooms, or the white Hairs of the Dung, preferve themfelves a long time without rotting, if kept dry ; and if laid again on the Ground, will produce.

Mejhrcom'y then, are nothing elfe but the Produce of what we call the Mouldinefs of Horfe-Dung : But what Analogy is there between thefe two things? Or how mould fo art- ful and delicate a Structure as this of a Plant refult from the mere fortuitous Concourfe of a few Juices, differently agitated ?

It feems pail doubt then, xh-xt Muprooms, like all other Plants, have their Origin in Seeds : Now we know that the Seeds of Plants cannot vegetate every where J there arefirlr required certain Juices proper to penetrate their Coats, to excite a Fermentation, and to join themfelves to the little parts thereof, and increafe them. Hence arifes Jiat infinite Divcrfity of Places, wherein different Species of thU Plant are produced. There are fome which will only grow Q n fome other particular Plants, whofe Trunk, Bark, or Roots, alone have the Juices proper tor them.

What M. Tournefort mentions from Meff. Lemery and Mery, isftill more furprizing : There is a Species oi'Mu/h- rooms which grow on the Fillets and Bandages apply'd to the Fractures, &c, of the Patients in the Eotel-Vieu. After which, it will not be at all furprizing that Horfe- Dung pre- pared in the manner M. Tournefort mentions, fhouid be a Soil or Matrix capable of making common Mti/brooms grow.

Hence it feems to follow, that the Seeds of Mujbrooms fhould be fpread in an infinite number of Places where they do not vegetate, and in a word throughout the whole Earth 5 and the fame may be faid of a great number of other Plants.

It mull be own'd, the Imagination is fhock'd at fuch a prodigious Multitude of different Seeds, thrown every where at random, and in many Places to no purpofe ; but a little Reafoning will put the Matter of Fail pail doubt.

Diofcorides tells us, he was affurcd that Pieces of the Bark of the Poplar-Tree being laid in the Ground over Horfe- Dung, there would grow out of them very good Mi/brooms. Ruel lays, that by boring the Trunk of a white Poplar- Tree near the Root, and waflting it with Levenileep'd in Water, Mujbrooms faring out of it, as it were, initantly. He adds, that the Hillocks produce feveral kinds of Mujhrooms, if the Stubble be burnt on 'em in the rainy Seafon.

M. Tournefort tells us, on his own Knowledge, that where the Stubble is burnt in Provence, Languedoc, and the lilands of the Archipelago, there arife great Quantities of black Popples in the firft Autumnal Rains, which difappear the Tear following ■-, fo that they are never found but on burnt Lands. And we know that after the Burning of London, the Ground as far as the Fire reach'd, /hot up with vail Quantities of Eryfimum Latifolium Majtts Glabrum. One of the chief Reafons, if not the only one, why Mountains produce Plants different from the Plains or Valleys ; Pla- ces become fenny, from the fame Places when they w^re dry ; is the difference in the nutricious Juices found in thofe Places. Without this, how fhall we account for the Origin of Mitietoe or Hypocyftus, which are never known to grow in the Earth, at lead without adhering to fome other Plant ; the one growing on Trees, the other to the Root of the Cyftus ? Why do the Ivy and Vine of Canada, the Pellitory, Polypody, the Species of Capillaries, grow only on the Trunks of Trees, on Walls, and in the Clefts of Rocks, un- lefs it be that the Juices of thofe Places are the bell adap- ted to them ?

Thefe and other inconteftable Fails prove plainly both the vafr, Multitude of Seeds difpetfed every where, and the Neceffity of certain Circumllances to make 'em ve- getate.

If to this Speculation on the invifible Seeds of Plants, we join that of the invifible Eggs oflnfefts, which mull be allow'd equal thereto, the Earth will be found full of an inconceivable Infinity of Animals and Vegetables, per fe illy form'd, and defigned, as it were, in Miniature, and only waiting for certain favourable Circumflauces to enable them to make their Appearance in large. How rich then mull the Hand be, that has fown with fo much Profufion?

"We have been the more particular on this Head, on ac- count of the Oddnefs of the Phenomena 5 and becaufe what is herefaid of Mufbrooms will give light into the Gene- ration of all other Vegetables, &c. whofe Seeds are yet undifcovercd.

Dr. Lifer, indeed, thinks he has found out the Seeds of Mufbrooms. He inflances particularly in the Fungi's Forofus 7 Crajfus magnus J. B. the Texture of whofe Gills is like a Paper prick'd full of Pin-holes. Thefe Gills, he makes no doubt, are the very Flower and Seed of this Plant ; when it is ripe, the Gills are eafily feparable from the reft of the Head, each Seed being diftinil from other, and ha- ving its Impreffion in the Head of the Afu (broom, juil as the Seed of an Artichoke hath in the bottom of it \ the big- ger end of the Seed is full and round, and they are difpo- fed in a fpiral Order like thofe of the Artichoke: And the fame he thinks of all other Mujbrooms, however diffe- rently figured. If it happens that thefe, when Town, prove fleril, and don't produce their Kind, it is no wonder ; there being whole Genus's of Plants that come up, and flower, and feed, yet their Seed was never known to produce Plants of their Kind, being no more than a barren volatile Dull, as all the Orchides, or Bee-Flowers,

MUSIC,