CHAPTER XIX 



A MEMORABLE LESSON 



TAKE leave of the mushrooms with re- 

 -*■ gret : there would be so many other quest- 

 ions to solve concerning them ! Why do the 

 maggots eat the Satanic boletus and scorn the 

 imperial mushroom? How is it that they find 

 delicious what we find poisonous and why is it 

 that what seems exquisite to our taste is loath- 

 some to theirs? Can there be special com- 

 pounds in mushrooms, alkaloids, apparently, 

 which vary according to the botanical genus? 

 Would it be possible to isolate them and study 

 their properties fully? Who knows whether 

 medical science could not employ them in re- 

 lieving our ailments, even as it employs 

 quinine, morphia and other alkaloids? One 

 might enquire into the cause of the liquefac- 

 tion of the coprini, which is spontaneous, and 

 that of the boleti, which is brought about by 

 the maggots. Do both cases come within the 

 same category? Does the coprinus digest 

 itself by virtue of a pepsin similar to the mag- 

 gots' ? One would like to discover the oxidi- 



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