THE PAGE OF NATURE. 247 



entirely into disuse. A species of Polyporus growing 

 upon the birch is used, when dried and pounded, as an 

 ingredient in snuff, by the Ostyacks on the Obi. 

 Lysums mokusin is used by the Chinese as a remedy in 

 gangrenous ulcers, but its virtues are probably fabulous. 

 In Lapland, the common amadou (Polypoms fomentarius), 

 when beaten out into thin pieces, is employed to remove 

 pain by simply laying a piece of it on the part affected, 

 and igniting it. Like the soft contents of puff-balls, it 

 is used occasionally to- stanch blood in wounds. When 

 steeped in saltpetre, and cut into thin slices, it forms 

 most excellent tinder, and is so employed in many parts 

 of Germany and England. In Lapland, it is considered 

 an indispensable article in domestic economy, Linnseus 

 relating that he saw it hung up for various purposes on 

 the walls of every cottage he entered. 



Many of the fungi are possessed of highly poisonous 

 properties, and serious, and even fatal accidents oc- 

 cur occasionally in this country, and more frequently 

 in France, from an incautious use of them. Sometimes 

 this arises from confounding the edible with the poison- 

 ous species ; but even the edible kinds to some people 

 act always as poisons, and there is reason to believe that 

 the best and safest mushrooms, if taken in considerable 

 quantity for any length of time, induce in many indi- 

 viduals a habit of body which may be pronounced a 

 poisoned one. Upon what their poisonous properties 

 depend is not known. Two active substances have 

 been recognised in them. When distilled with water 

 they yield a fugacious acrid principle, dispelled in 

 the act of drying, or by immersion in acids, alkalies, or 



