26 JOURNAL OF THE 



It would seem that our rigidly scientific botanist did not disdain 

 the subtle arts of the gastronomist. For example, in this letter to 

 the Rev. Mr. Berkeley, from which I have already made a lengthy 

 extract, he says, " The Lycoperdon giganteum is also a great favor- 

 ite with me, as indeed, with all my acquaintances who have tried it. 

 It has not the high aroma of some others, but it has a delicacy of 

 flavor that makes it superior to any omelette I have ever eaten. It 

 seems, furthermore, to be so digestible as to adapt it to the most 

 delicate stomachs. This is t' e Southdown of mushrooms." 



Could gastronomic enthusiam run higher than to compare a devil's 

 snuff box, that the school boy takes particular delight in using as a 

 foot ball to show his detestation, to the luscious meat of a South- 

 down mutton! And then triumphantly he adds, in this latitude 

 (about 36^) we can find good mushrooms for the table nine or ten 

 months of the year, and some even the year round, and one some- 

 times emerging from the soil frozen solid! 



Dr. Curtis' neighbors shared largely his gastromic pleasures. It 

 was his custom to send baskets of the choicest of them to his friends, 

 until the divine art of mycophagy reached a good degree of cultiva- 

 tion, and many of them learned to distinguish for themselves the 

 edible ones. Some members of his family became especially expert 

 in foraging for the table among the mushrooms, and Mr. Chas. J. 

 Curtis, now the Rev. Mr. Curtis, afterwards put his knowledge of the 

 forms of these plants to use, by drawing and coloring specimens to 

 illustrate his father's still unpublished work on the " Edible Fungi.'''' 

 This work was designed to popularize the use of mushrooms as an 

 article of food. It was written during the late war, when the sub- 

 ject of food was a matter of daily solicitude to thousands of families. 

 In taking up the pen for this work, Dr. Curtis succeeded admirably 

 in divesting himself of every technicality, and, indeed, of describing 

 minutely about 40 of tl.e 111 species, in language not only easy to be 

 understood, but he really made the subject very enticing. Illustrations 

 and comparisons were occasionally drawn from the numerous for- 

 eign authors he had mastered. When the war ended and a pub- 

 lisher was sought for the work on " Edible Fungi," little encourage- 

 ment was given. It now remains in MS. 



The subject has never been very popular in the United States, and 

 the students who undertake its study are not numerous, and myco- 

 phagists do not abound : the former seek for information in works 

 of English and French authorship, and the latter are content with 

 the authenticity of the trade mark on the cans of Champignons, 

 imported from France. 



