498 MEALS MEDICINAL. 
* button’ Mushrooms to fill a half-pint measure, and add them 
to two gills of the best beef gravy, which has been previously 
thickened with from one to one and a half teaspoonfuls of flour, 
and stirred over the fire till it boils. Allow the Mushrooms to 
simmer slowly in the sauce for ten, or twelve minutes; then 
stir in four teaspoonfuls of Mushroom Catsup, and half a teaspoon- 
ful of lemon-juice ; season with salt, and pepper, if necessary, 
and serve very hot.” The field Mushroom for cooking can be 
readily distinguished from any harmful fungus by the fresh 
pink colour of its gills underneath the top disc, by the solidity 
of its stem, the fragrant anise-like odour which it emits, and the 
separability of its outer skin. The chief chemical constituents 
of wholesome Mushrooms are albuminoids, carbohydrates, and 
fat, with mineral matters, and water. From the Golden 
Spindlespike (Clavaria fusiformis), when stewed, a sweet dish 
may be made. Our English Agaric, or field Mushroom, furnishes 
phosphate of potassium, a cell salt especially reparative of 
exhausted nerve tissue, and its energies. Mr. A. Broadbent, 
of Manchester, teaches that an excellent tea for invalids may 
be made from the ordinary edible Mushroom (Agaricus campestris) 
which is highly nitrogenous, and endowed with much fat. The 
beef-steak fungus grows on oak trees, and resembles in its dark- 
brown appearance, its sapid taste, its animal odour, and its 
soft, pulpy touch, the commodity after which it is named. 
** Fried in butter,” says Dr. Cooke (Royal Horticultural Society), 
“it is delicious.” The Roman Emperor Claudius was killed 
by eating Mushrooms. “ Hither the Emperor repaired in hope 
to recover his health through the temperature of the air, but, 
contrarily, here met with the Mushroomes that poysoned him.’ 
If a carefully-peeled onion is boiled with Mushrooms, and comes 
out clean-looking, they may be eaten with confidence; if It 
turns blue, or black, they should be thrown away. ; 
Strong alcoholic drinks ought never to be taken together with, 
or immediately after eating Mushrooms. Experienced fungus 
eaters (mycophagists) have found themselves suffering from 
severe pains, and troublesome swellings, through drinking whisky 
and water at a Mushroom meal ; whereas a precisely similar meal, 
minus the whisky, could be eaten with impunity by the very 
same experimentalists. Edible Mushrooms, if kept uncooked, 
become dangerous: they cannot be sent to table too soon after 
being gathered. In Rome our ordinary Mushroom (there know? 
