HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



jiolice — a large kitchen hearthstone being forced out 

 of its bed by a fungus. Sir Joseph Banks relates 

 a still more startling occurrence. A cask of wine 

 •leaked, and after a time a fungus grew from the 

 leakage, which finally filled the cellar and lifted the 

 cask to the ceiling. 



Fungi give off carbonic acid like human being';, 

 and not oxygen, as do other vegetables. This 

 peculiarity is accounted for by the absence of gieen 

 colouring matters. 



The truffle is a subterraneous fungus, never 

 appearing above the surface of the ground. It grows 

 in light, dry soil, and is found in many parts of 

 JEngland — more especially on the Wilis, Hants, 

 and Kent Downs. It is more plentiful in France 

 than with us, and there grows to a larger size and 

 has a choicer flavour. The species most valued, 

 on account of their rich aroma, are those from the 

 oak forests of Perigord. There are three varieties of 

 truffles — the black, the white, and the red or violet. 

 The last is rare, and of the two former the black is 

 Jield in far higher repute ; the white, indeed, is 

 considered of comparatively little value. To be in 

 perfection truffles should be eaten quite fresh, much 

 of their aroma being lost by keeping. The black 

 truffle is nodulated, and ranges in size from a filbert 

 or plum to a closed fist. Inside it is marbled 

 with white, fdamentous streaks, which have been 

 thought to be its mycelium. As truffles do not 

 appear above ground, there is nothing to show the 

 place of their growth, and animals trained for the 

 purpose are used to scent them out. In England dogs 

 are the favourites for this work ; they scratch and 

 bark over the spot where they grow, and then the 

 truffles are dug out. In France pigs are used instead 

 of dogs. The pig is very fond of them, and on 

 smelling them turns up the ground with its snout in 

 search of them. Truffles are considered, especially 

 on the Continent, articles of the greatest delicacy ; 

 their firm, tough texture makes them indigestible, 

 but they are valued for their peculiar aroma. They 

 are seldom eaten alone, and are often used as stuffing, 

 and they also form a frequent ingredient of made 

 dishes, besides being employed to flavour gravies 

 and sauces. 



A popular error is to suppose that fungi are eatable, 

 and toadstools poisonous ; there is no such line of 

 demarcation, nor, strictly speaking, has the word 

 toadstool any precise meaning. Very many fungi 

 aie eatable, the number of poisonous varieties 

 being exaggerated, and it is well known that the 

 common Field Agaric, usually eaten in England, is 

 not the most palatable and wholesome ; indeed, in 

 Italy it is condemned and not allowed to be sold in 

 the fungus market, which is there quite an institution. 



Mr. Howse, a member of the Woolhope, paid, a 

 few years ago, a visit to the French Botanical Society, 

 •and on his return wrote a capital little paper on the 

 fungi, which, while in France, he had closely studied. 



He mentions that the French fungus forays were 

 originally arranged to promote the use of these vege- 

 tables as food. But they do not seem to be gaining 

 ground generally, and the consumption remains small. 

 The main difficulty is cooking them properly, although 

 our neighbours are ahead of us in this respect. At 

 the banquets of the French Society many kinds were 

 eaten. Mr. Howse thought the Hclvclla crixpa the 

 best ; but in England it is too rare to be of account 

 for the table. At one of the evening meetings an 

 interesting discussion took place on poisonous fungi, 

 and it was generally agreed that the deleterious 

 property of the common fly agaric — the Agaricus 

 miiscariits — had been much exaggerated, and that 

 most of the poisoning cases recorded in the news- 

 papers were from the Amanita pantherimis, which 

 closely resembles the Amanita riibescens, the last a 

 species much eaten by the French peasantry. Ama- 

 nita mappa also has an unenviable reputation for 

 destroying human life. 



Few foods are more savoury or greater favourites 

 than well-cooked fungi ; the Amanita Caesarea is 

 said to be the best of all the edible fungi, though as 

 it is an Italian species, and does not develop its 

 flavour in a cold climate, it does not concern us much. 

 Fungi are popularly supposed to be very nutritious, 

 but physiologists new assert that this is an error, and 

 that a given weight will not be found to be as sus- 

 taining as would be inferred from their chemical 

 composition. This does not prove that they are not 

 useful adjuncts to food, and as flavouring ingredients 

 they have few superiors. Far greater resort to them 

 ought to be encouraged, and I cannot see why the 

 supply of fungi should not be increased twenty-fold, 

 and in this way a most valuable industry might be 

 developed, or, more correctly, built up. When 

 cultivated in pits and cellars they can be obtained 

 all the year through ; few crops are more prolific and 

 so seldom disappoint the grower, while the demand 

 for them is always very great. 



A physician whom I met with at the Woolhope 

 Fungus Dinner, at Hereford, last October, told me that, 

 twenty years earlier, he had freely experimented on 

 fungi, and had then eaten many species with impunity. 

 If the smell was pleasant he tasted the raw fungus, 

 and then fried half of it. He rarely suffered 

 temporarily, never permanently, and he believed 

 that most fungi could be eaten with safety ; and, as 

 he was a man of great intelligence, and evidently well- 

 informed, his deliberate opinion carried great weight 

 with me. 



Dr. Cooke's charming little work on British Fungi 

 contains the following lively passage, which I venture 

 to transcribe : "From amongst the most common of 

 continental modes of cooking them, I have selected 

 several. Having picked a number of freshly-gathered 

 mushrooms, cut them in pieces, wash them in cold 

 water, and dry them in a cloth, then put them in a 

 pan, with butter, parsley, salt and pepper, and place 



