MUSHROOM. 375 



have some method of extracting the venomous 

 particles of the plant, unless, like Mithridates 

 of old, they have become so accustomed to 

 poison, that it loses its effect on their consti- 

 tutions, as the Turks take opium with in- 

 difference. 



We have not heard that the morel, a kind 

 of mushroom, has yet been cultivated, al- 

 though it is said to be good for creating 

 an appetite, is accounted restorative, and 

 is much used in sauces and ragouts. The 

 following accounts of extraordinary mush- 

 rooms, which we meet with in the works of 

 respectable authors, may perhaps subject 

 them to the imputation of credulity. 



Matthiolus mentions mushrooms which 

 weighed thirty pounds each. Fer. Imperatus 

 tells us, he saw some which weighed above 

 one hundred pounds a-piece. The Journal 

 des Sf avans furnishes us with an account of 

 some growing on the frontiers of Hungary, 

 which made a full cart load. 



A mushroom of the very best quality was 

 lately gathered in the neighbourhood of Brigg, 

 in Lincolnshire, which measured three feet 

 four inches in circumference ; girth of the 

 stalk, five inches and a half; it was two in- 

 ches in thickness, and weighed twenty-nine 



