240 



THE POPULAR EDUCATOR. 



having been habitually in communication with, many of the 

 families from amongst our peasantry who were but scantily 

 provided with daily food, we found ourselves one day in an ex- 

 tensive pine-wood, near Budleigh Salterton, in South Devon, and 

 saw the ground, which was densely carpeted with the accumulated 

 dead leaves that had 

 fallen from the trees, 

 and lain undisturbed 

 for many years, stud- 

 ded in every direction 

 with fungi, of every 

 colour and of every 

 shape, ia such quan- 

 tities that cart-loads 

 might have been 

 gathered there. Huge 

 purple, white, brown, 

 and tawny Agarics 

 were there ; the deep 

 orange of the Boletus 

 edulis was inter- 

 spersed with the 

 snowy balls of the 

 Lycoperdons, and the 

 delicate apricot tint 

 of the pretty and 

 singular Cantharellus 

 cibarius, with many 

 other beautiful and 

 edible species, were 

 scattered in profusion 

 around us. How 

 could we, under these 

 circumstances, do 

 otherwise than regret 

 that ignorance of the 

 differences of species, 

 combined with the 

 strong prejudice 

 which exists in Eng- 

 land against using 

 any of this tribe (save 

 the two or three 

 favoured individuals) , 

 should shut out our 

 poor from the pos- 

 sibility of availing 

 themselves of this 

 rich supply of whole- 

 some aliment, which 

 the bounty of God 

 iad provided for 

 them, if they would 

 but be persuaded to 

 use it? It is true, 

 that among this ex- 

 tensive collection of 

 fungi there were some 

 species which would 

 have proved poison- 

 ous, and others which 

 would have been but 

 disagreeable food ; 

 yet the greater num- 

 ber of them were such 

 as, if properly cooked, 

 would have furnished, 

 not only wholesome, 

 but also savoury and 

 pleasant food ; and it 



seemed to us a great pity that they should be so wholly 

 neglected, and left a prey to reptiles and field-mice. 



The chemical composition of fungi is the most highly 

 animalised. or, in other words, is most like that of animals 

 of all vegetables. Besides the intimations of this circumstance 

 that are afforded by the smell of some of the species in 

 decay, which partakes very much of the character of that of 

 putrid meat, and the strong meat-like flavour also which 



304. CLATHRUS CANCELLATUS. 



some of them possess when cooked, we find the tollowing fact 

 stated that, " like animals, they absorb a large quantity of 

 oxygen, and disengage in return from their surface a larga 

 quantity of carbonic acid : all, however, do not exhale carbonic 

 acid, but in lieu of it some give out hydrogen, and others azotic 



gas. They yield, 

 moreover, to chemical 

 analysis the several 

 components of which 

 animal structures are 

 made up ; many of 

 them, in addition to 

 sugar, gum, resin, a 

 peculiar acid called 

 fnngic acid, and a 

 variety of salts, 

 furnish considerable 

 quantities of albu- 

 men, adiposine, and 

 osmazome, which last 

 is that principle that 

 gives its peculiar fla- 

 vour to meat gravy." 

 Fungi are consi- 

 dered to be highly 

 nutritious, and are 

 said by many of the 

 faculty to be easy of 

 digestion. This latter 

 opinion, though 

 strongly supported by 

 many foreign medical 

 men, is certainly 

 quite in opposition to 

 the generally- received 

 opinion on that sub- 

 ject in England, and 

 also to the ideas 

 of ancient writers. 

 Gerard, the quaint 

 old herbalist. Bays : 

 " Some mushroomes 

 grow forth of the 

 earth : others upon 

 the bodies of old 

 trees, which differ 

 altogether in kinds. 

 Many wantons that 

 dwell near the sea, 

 and have fish at will, 

 are verie desirous foi 

 change of diet, to 

 feed upon the birds of 

 the mountaines ; and 

 such as dwell upon 

 the hill or champion 

 grounds do long after 

 sea fish ; many that 

 have plenty of both 

 do hunger after the 

 earthie excrescences 

 called mushroomes ; 

 whereof some are very 

 venomous, and full of 

 poison, others not so 

 noisome, and neither 

 of them very whole- 

 some meat." And 

 again, "Galen affirms 

 that they are all very 



cold and moist, and therefore do approach unto a venomous and 

 murtherous facultie, and ingender a clammy, pituitous, and cold 

 nutriment, if they be eaten. To conclude, few of them are good 

 to be eaten, and most of them do suffocate and strangle the 

 eater. Therefore I give my advice to those that love such 

 strange and new-fangled meates, to beware of licking honey 

 among thornes, lest the sweetnesse of the one do not counter- 

 vaile the sharpnesse and pricking of the other." 



