THE FLY MUSHROOM 



if he would recover, for it was only necessary to try the 

 following : — 



" Celandine with the heart of a Mouldwarp " (that is mole, 

 Scottice moudiewort) "laid under the Heade of one that is 

 grievouslie Sicke, if he be in danger of Death, immediately 

 he will cry out with a loud voice or sing ; if not, he will 

 weep." 



In Lightfoot's Flora Scotica, there is an interesting 

 account of the Ply Mushroom {Agaricus muscarius) which is 

 not very rare in Britain, and which may be easily recognized 

 by the bright red toj) or cap, with whitish scales scattered 

 over it, and a sort of ring of loose white tissue round the 

 stalk. 



"It has an acrid and deleterious quality. The inhabit- 

 ants of Kamschatka prepare a liquor from an infusion of 

 this Agaric which taken in a small quantity exhilarates the 

 spirits, but in a larger dose brings on a trembling of the 

 nerves, intoxication, delirium and melancholy. Linnaeus 

 informs us that flies are killed or at least stupefied by an in- 

 fusion of this fungus in milk and that the expressed juice 

 of it anointed on bedsteads and other places effectually 

 destroys" — what we may describe as certain lively and 

 pertinacious insects with a great affection for man ! 



As a matter of fact the fungus is said to be a deadly 

 poison.^ 



These quotations are enough to show how the real medi- 

 cal knowledge of those times was encrusted with all sorts of 

 faith-curing devices, sheer falsehoods, and superstitions. The 

 most learned men of the Middle Ages were almost invariably 

 monks and hermits, for there was nothing in the world of 

 those strenuous times to attract a studious, sensitive disposi- 

 ^ Cooke, British Fungi. 

 31 



