870 
explain under.the articles polype and plant. 
Some species of the mushroom tribe attain 
to their full maturity in five or six hours ; 
others require not less than a year for that 
purpose, Their growth is produced by in- 
tersception: that is to say, the mushrooms 
by means of their roots or organs performing 
the functions of roots, draw from the earth, 
or the particular bodies on which they grow, 
a baontitiagitice! which properly distributed 
as far as the first divisions of their fleshy 
fibres, epereases their length and breadth, and 
gives them more or less solidity. ‘Those 
whose substance resembles cork, have a 
striking resemblance to the trunks of trees, 
of which the boletus igniariws may be pro- 
duced as an instance, which adds every year 
a new sysiem of tubes, and produces new 
embrios in the same manner as trees produce 
new flowers and new fruit. In the woody 
speeies the growth depends upon. various 
movements of the vegetable fluid, and there 
is an elaboration not only of .the proper 
juices, but also of the nutritive lymph which 
passes into the capillary vessels. In the fu- 
gacious ones the lymphatic humour filtrates 
through the interstices of ‘their substance, 
like oil in cotton, while their proper juices 
circulate along the capillary vessels. 
«¢ Plants, whose organisation is so different 
from that of all other vegetables, give out 
when analyzed peculiar products. The re- 
sults of their artificial as well as of their na- 
tural decomposition, are very analogous to 
those of animal substances. Under water, 
they give out hydrogen, azote, and carbonic 
et yas. ‘ 
<¢ Some species are employed in the arts : 
more are'used as human food ; and many of 
them are poisonous. The greater part of 
them are of no service to man, but atiord 
nourishment to legions of the larvae of 
insects. 
<< It is difficult to give any general charac- 
ter of unwholesome mushrooms. A know- 
ledge of the different species is the only cer- 
tain guide, and these are so suhject to change 
their appearance, that there will cften be 
reason to doubt. We should Jabourin vain 
were we to attempt to banish them entirely 
from the tables of the luxurious ; but wecan- 
not refrain from observing, that they have been 
proved to furnish little or no chyle, and con- 
sequently afford no nutriment. they digest 
only by the means of trituration, or to areos 
more properly, they do not digest ata 
They are nothing but seasoning to other 
meats. ; 
«< When mushrooms are gathered for the 
table, the ald ones should be rejected ; for it 
is a fact, that some which are innoxious when 
young, become dangerous when tending to 
decay; they then, also, lose much of their 
flavour. 
*« Jt has been determined by positive ex- 
periments, that vegetable acids are antidotes 
to their poisonous qualities. Any one who 
has suffered by them should, therefore, be 
i— 
ee an 
NATURAL HISTORY. 
made alternately to vomit, and to drink vines | 
gar diluted with water; and when there is a 
doubt of their goodness, it is advisable to 
steep them for some hours in vinegar. 
«© The effects cf their poison are, vomit- 
ing, Oppression, tension of the stomach and 
lower belly, anxiety, griping, violent thirst, 
heart-burn, dyseutery, fainting, hiccup, uni-+ 
versal trembling, gangrene, and death.” 
The latter part of the article is by 
Parmentier, who is of the same opinion 
with Bose on the subject. 
«© Daily experience,” says this able natu- 
ralist, *© demonstrates that the best mush- 
rooms, those which are a conimon inere- 
dient in our ragouts, may be very dangerous 
either in consequence of their having been 
gathered too early or too Jate, of their having 
been exposed to the influence of fogs, stag- 
nant air, or putrefying bodies ; of their having 
been eaten to excess, or of a particular bodily 
constitution in the person who eats them. 
Jussieu, my colleague, who so successfully fol- 
lows the steps of his uncles, is of opinion 
thatall mushrooms are more or less prejudicial 
to health, and that many disorders are pro- 
duced by them which are attributed to other 
causes. 
«« But notwithstanding these melancholy 
facts, gluttony will still prevail ; mushrooms 
will continue to be eaten. It may be proper, 
therefore, to point out the means of prevent- 
ing or lessening their dangerous effects. It 
will be prudent'to keep them some time after 
they are gathered, to macerate them in cold 
water repeatedly changed, to mix with them 
in the dish of which they are to be an ingre- 
dient, some wine, or vinegar, or lemon juice, 
or some acidulous herb; above all, to chew 
them well, that they may be less likely to 
swell in the stomach into an indigestible 
mass; and, in fine, when any threatening 
symptoms begin to appear,. to administer 
immediately emollient medicines, oils, acids, 
and especially emetics. But I again assert, 
that no mushroom is nutritious: it con- 
tains only a savoury substance, which may 
doubtless be found in other vegetables ; and 
as it is not.always possible to distinguish 
those which are essentially, from those which 
are occasionally pernicious, let us proscribe 
the use of them in our sauces, and employ in 
their stead artichoke bottoms, celery, or some 
other culinary herb, which, with a little 
management, may be made to acquire the 
seductive flavour of the perfidious mush- 
room. 
«« My experiments on these vegetables 
would have been incompleat, if I had not 
endeavoured to investigate their mode of act-. 
ing on the animal ceconomy, with the hope 
of discovering an effectual antidote to their 
poison. J mixed some noxious mushrooms 
with some minced meat, and caused a dog of 
moderate size to swallow the mixture. Ina 
little time he became stupid ; then manifest~ 
