EDIBLE NATIVE FUNGI. 157 



Mr. Kiuuey said that color is not a sure indication of wbole- 

 someness. The only sure way to learn how to distinguish the 

 edible varieties is to get a book containing full and clear 

 descriptions of this class, with accurately drawn and correctly 

 colored illustrations. Take the book with you into the field, 

 meadow, or woodland, and, having fouud a living specimen, 

 carefully examine it in all its parts, and having found in your 

 book a picture resembling it, compare the two critically, and see 

 if the description also in the book is applicable to the plant in 

 hand in all respects ; but bear in mind that the appearance of the 

 living plant changes as the days of its brief existence go by, and 

 that when it has passed a certain stage decay begins and poisonous 

 qualities are developed. The common mushroom ( Agaricus 

 ■canipestrii^), when ready for use as food, has pink gills, which 

 later become brown and finally black. 



Miss Jones said she had seen, in a French book, a statement of 

 what was claimed to be an iitfallible rule, that if the juice of any 

 mushroom would not quickly discolor a bright silver surface, it 

 was a safe one to use as food. 



Mr. Terry suggested that it might be true that there is a 

 difference in the constitution of individuals which allows some 

 persons to eat freely, with safety, of certain vegetables or other * 

 foods which are poisonous to others 



Professor George F. H. Markoe said many important discoveries 

 had been made in toxicology ; one of which was that all decom- 

 posing organic matter develops poisonous alkaloids called 

 ptomaines. In the decay of milk, a peculiar ptomaine is 

 developed and this poison is always the cause of cholera infantum. 

 Every one should be very careful how he or she uses any food 

 which is in a state of decay. In selecting mushrooms for table 

 use, one can safely adopt this rule : every good mushroom has a 

 pleasing odor and an agreeable taste. The speaker said that he 

 would be perfectly willing to eat any unknown mushroom, which 

 had no offensive odor, nor an acrid, bitter, or otherwise disagree- 

 able ta§te. 



Mr. Kinney approved Professor Markoe's statements respecting 

 the characteristics of good mushrooms. 



Professor Markoe added that we obtain many valuable sub- 

 stances from poisonous plants. The so-called Poison Hemlock 

 ( Conium maculatum) yields, from leaves and seeds, a narcotic 

 poison which is much used as a sedative and antispasimodc 



