Page:Littell's Living Age - Volume 131.djvu/387

Rh very best of our British species, as its mime implies, when eaten raw causes a very unpleasant amount of tingling of the mouth and tongue. Far more important, however, is it to remember that a fungus may have a pleasant odor and taste, and yet be most virulently poisonous. Mr. W. G. Smith was poisoned by eating less than a quarter of an ounce of A. fertitis, P., which had anything but a disagreeable taste. Again A. muscarius, L. has no acridity, neither has A. phalloides, Fr., or A. Mappa, Batsch; and whatever may be the character of the two latter, the poisonous properties of the former are well known. It must be remembered that fungi may be irritant, narcotic, or narcoto-irritant poisons, and while it is possible to recognize an irritant by the taste, a narcotic may be nearly tasteless. There is one way, and only one, by which edible fungi can be discriminated from poisonous ones with absolute certainty, and that is by a knowledge of the individual species. As well might a code of rules be laid down for the discrimination of wholesome from poisonous fruits or vegetables, as for fungi. People do occasionally mistake aconite roots for horseradish, or fool's-parsley for parsley proper; but we have no general rules drawn up in this case, neither do people become panic-stricken and eschew the whole race of condiments because of these unfortunate accidents. But if any misadventure occurs from eating fungi, the whole race are scouted and branded as the harbingers of death. In this country fungus-eating is reserved for the few; but it by no means follows these few are experimentalists, far from it; for the species they eat have been known to be edible, and have been eaten, by the initiated, from time immemorial, in other lands if not in this. Like other kinds of food, they vary much in flavor in the facility with which they can be digested, and in their nutritious qualities. Certain excellent species cannot be too widely known, and every housewife should be able to discriminate them, especially as they have all well-marked characters. Amongst these may be mentioned — Agaricus procerus, Scop.; A. gambosus, Fr.; A. nebularis, Batsch; Lactarius deliciosus, Fr.; Coprimes comatus Fr.; Cantharellus cibarius, Fr.; Hydnum repandum, L.; Boletus edulis, Bui.; Lycoperdon giganteum, Batsch; and Fistulina hepatica, Fr. Occasionally we hear vegetarians say they live upon some fabulously small sum, — a few pence per diem; and although very few people, indeed, would care to debar themselves of wholesome nutritious food for the sake of a mere theory, yet it cannot be overlooked that the continued and continuing increase of the population will eventually demand a full development of the resources of the country. There cannot be a doubt that the esculent species of fungi will, in the future, occupy a most important place in the dietary of the nation, not simply because of their cheapness, but rather by reason of their nutritious qualifies and the large proportion of nitrogenous compounds they contain.

 

 From The Sunday Magazine.

man, who now saunters up to join the assembly, is of a very different type from the gentlemen of the court. His brow is knit; at intervals he murmurs some word to himself as if he wished not to forget it; something very like a proof-sheet is peeping out of his pocket. People stare at him, half with curiosity, half with wonder, as though they were surprised to see him here. David Hume has, in truth, not much time to spare from his history, but he cannot deny himself such an intellectual treat as listening to Whitefield. In and out among the well-dressed many there moves a crowd of people who wear neither silk nor velvet. There is the artisan, with his wife and children, who have come out here chiefly for the sake of the fresh, sweet country air; there are the city clerk and his sweetheart doing a little flirting to while away the time; there is the poor needle-woman, whose pale face has such a wistful look, that we fancy her heart must be beginning dimly to guess that if she could grasp the meaning of the great preacher's words, it might possibly bring into her life even more warmth and coloring than there is in the dresses she stitches for the grand ladies. Suddenly the murmur of voices which has been running through the vast assembly is hushed. The duchesses and countesses incline their heads a quarter of an inch forward; the fans of the actresses cease to flutter; the mass of the people make a little rush all in the same direction. Every eye is fixed on a man who is ascending slowly a green bank near at hand. At first sight there is nothing very remarkable in his appearance. His figure is tall and spare, his dress is homely; when he turns towards the audience we 