246 FOOTNOTES FROM 



in one form of organization, and were fast hastening 

 down, by a process of decomposition, to join the atoms 

 of the inorganic world of chaos and death. Every decay- 

 ing leaf of the wood and the field has its own fungoid 

 parasite, which gradually reduces it to a state fitted to 

 minister to the necessities of next year's vegetation ; and 

 thus, through the agency of little insignificant patches of 

 mouldy, rusty tissue, the " carrion in the sun converts 

 itself into trees and flowers." 



In the economy of man, fungi have been applied to 

 many useful purposes. A few are endowed with valuable 

 medicinal properties, and still hold their ground, not- 

 withstanding the vast improvement effected in the nature 

 and choice of drugs in recent times. From their chemi- 

 cal constituents, the medical uses of the fungi are pro- 

 bably of far greater importance than their present very 

 limited application might lead us to suppose ; and in all 

 likelihood, if they were more studied, many of the active 

 species might afford valuable remedies. As it is, how- 

 ever, one species at least is a highly powerful and in- 

 valuable medicine. The ergot of rye is an important 

 article in the Materia Medica, as it has been found 

 capable of exerting a very powerful and specific action 

 upon the womb, and is administered in small doses in 

 certain extreme cases. This remedy has been principally 

 used in America, although of late it has been successfully 

 employed in France and in this country. Dufresnoy is 

 said to have used Agaricus emeticus with success in the 

 early stage of consumption ; and the sweet-scented Poly- 

 porus has been much vaunted for its surprising effects in 

 the treatment of the same disease, but it has now fallen 



