254 FOOTNOTES FROM 



their origin is identical, that their effects should be simi- 

 lar. Into the secrets of nature's laboratory, however, 

 we are not permitted to pry too closely, and " no admit- 

 tance even on business " is written in large letters above 

 the portals ! 



Passing from the consideration of the noxious pro- 

 perties of fungi, they exhibit themselves to us now in a 

 more interesting and pleasing aspect as edible substances. 

 In common with several other classes of plants which 

 have the reputation of being poisonous, and yet contain 

 several esculent species invaluable to man, the fungi, 

 although considered as a class dangerous and unwhole- 

 some, yet yield in many instances a large and varied 

 supply of palatable and nutritious food. In this world 

 the bitter and the sweet, life and death, are closely mixed 

 up together, and frequently flow from one another ; the 

 carrot belongs to the same tribe as the deadly hemlock, 

 the potato is closely allied to the poisonous night-shade ; 

 the arrow-root is the innocent product of the fearful 

 woorari poison ; and the common edible mushroom, 

 esteemed by rich and poor as a delicious esculent, be- 

 longs to an immense family, most of which are suspicious, 

 if not absolutely poisonous, productions. No country is 

 perhaps richer in edible fungi than Great Britain ; but 

 such is the extent of wilful ignorance and silly prejudice 

 regarding them, arising from their cold, moist, clammy 

 nature, and the disagreeable situations in which they 

 often grow, that this savoury and important food is year 

 after year allowed to perish ungathered in the woods and 

 fields. Mr. Badham, in his excellent work on the escu- 

 lent fungi of this country, remarks regarding this culp- 



