226 Fungi. 



6ence of nitrogenous properties in many of them they afford 

 an abundance of nourishment and supply to a great extent 

 the lack of animal food ; and on this account we can readily 

 see the great advantage that would accrue to the poorer 

 classes were food more commonly drawn from this source. 



Some Fungi make an excellent catchup, others may be 

 kept in pickle, and some may be preserved in the dried state, 

 so that the enjoyment of this kind of food need not neces- 

 sarily cease with the termination of the season of Agarics. 

 Objection is sometimes made to the use of such food be- 

 cause some of the species are poisonous. But the same 

 objection may be urged against the higher orders of plants 

 from which we derive the chief part of our vegetable food. 

 We have only to learn the good from the bad in one case 

 as well as in the other. 



The medical profession have placed the Fungi under con- 

 tribution for some of their remedies. The use of puff-balls 

 as a styptic and in some instances as an anaesthetic and of 

 ergot in womb affections are sufficient examples. The 

 various other uses to which they have been applied as of 

 Polyporus fomentarius for amadou or tinder and for razor 

 strops, of this and other related species for smudges by 

 backwoodsmen, of Agaricus muscarius for intoxicating pur- 

 poses and for fly poison, of the yeast plant in fermentation, 

 and for poultices, all tend to show that these plants are not 

 without important relations to man, and that a more inti- 

 mate knowledge of them than we now have will doubtless 

 be attended with important and valuable practical iesults 

 of which we now have no adequate conception. 



