250 



FOOTNOTES FROM 



external physical circumstances, just from the same cause 

 as celery is said to be poisonous, and sea-kale and 

 asparagus not eatable when growing wild ; but which 

 become bland and esculent when chance or culture, by 

 excluding light, prevents the formation of their acrid 

 principle." 



The intoxicating Siberian fungus or fly agaric (Agari- 

 cus mmcarius, Fig. 32), may be adduced as an illustra- 

 tion of the remark- 

 able effects produced 

 by some species of 

 fungi, when growing 

 in foreign countries. 

 We have no experi- 

 ence as yet, in this 

 part of Europe, of any 

 effects soextraordinary 

 being produced by any 

 of our native fungi, 

 or even by the same 

 species when growing 

 in the British woods. 

 It is acknowledged to 

 be one of the most 

 poisonous species in this country ; but it does not ex- 

 hibit its curious properties to the same extent here, as it 

 does beyond the Ural Mountains. In European Russia, 

 and Siberia, this fungus is to the inhabitants what opium 

 and hemp are to the natives of India and China ; cocoa 

 to the Peruvians ; and tobacco to the inhabitants of 

 Europe and North America. The craving for narcotic 



PIG. 32. AOARICUS MUSCAKIUS. 



