CHAPTER IX. 



On the Chemistry a.\d Toxicology of Fl'ngi. 



It would seem that English men of science have not been attracted 

 to the study of Fungi, in regai'd to the chemistry of them, or to the- 

 physiological properties their various components possess. At pre- 

 sent all our available information of this sort must be drawn from 

 foreign sources. A variety of facts have been gathered up abroad, 

 by one person and another; and though investigation has been, 

 very partial, limited, and desultoiy, the aggregate knowledge thus 

 acquired is not inconsiderable, and is sufficient to prove the im- 

 portance of the subject, and to serve as a sure basis for further 

 research. 



Investigation has proceeded in various ways. First, information 

 has been collected of that kind we may term folk-lore. The 

 practice of the populace in different countries and localities has 

 been noted, in respect of the particular species of Fungi employed 

 as food or otherwise, and the special methods of such employment. 

 Here and there medical men have had opportunities of watching 

 the effects of a fungus diet, or have had to study and contend 

 with cases of fungus poisoning. Again, chemists have under- 

 taken the minute analysis of sundry species of Fungi ; and lastly, 

 physiologists have experimented and practically tested some of the 

 effects produced by different Fungi on the economy of men and 

 animals. Information so acquired is fragmentary, and must be 

 gathered piecemeal from the various countries of civilization 

 during an extended period. Putting together and comparing all 

 results obtained, we shall find a fair accumulation of ascertained 

 facts, some abstract of which is here set forth. 



The first thing we learn is to appreciate the distinctions and 

 differences which make one species unlike another, in constituent 

 character as in external habit. This separation of genus from 

 genus and species from species has been emphatically urged fre- 

 quently in this work. And, indeed, it cannot be too strongly forced 



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