308 THE STORY-BOOK OF SCIENCE 



"No; that is impossible for us." 



"How impossible? Everybody knows that you 

 can eat without fear mushrooms that grow at the 

 foot of such and such a tree." 



"Before answering that remark, I will address 

 myself to you all and ask: Have you confidence in 

 my word? Do you think that passing one's life in 

 studying such things is more instructive than the 

 hear-say of those who do not concern themselves 

 with these matters?" 



"You may speak, Maitre Paul: we all have full 

 confidence in your learning," Simon made answer 

 for the company. 



"Well, then, I repeat it in all conviction: it is im- 

 possible for us who are not specialists to distinguish 

 an edible mushroom from a poisonous one, for none 

 has a mark to say : This is eatable and this is not. 

 Neither the nature of the ground, nor the trees at 

 the foot of which they grow, nor their form, color, 

 taste, smell, can teach us anything or enable us to 

 distinguish at sight the harmless from the poison- 

 ous. I admit that a person who had passed long 

 years studying mushrooms with the minute atten- 

 tion of a scientist would succeed in distinguishing 

 pretty well the poisonous from the harmless, just 

 as one acquires a knowledge of any other plant; 

 but can we undertake such studies? Have we the 

 time ? We scarcely know a dozen weeds, and yet we 

 would presume to pass judgment on the properties 

 of mushrooms, so many in kind and resembling one 

 another so closely? 



"I hasten to add that, in every locality, actual use 



