398 Instructions for Trttffle- Searching. 



favourite dish. Dioscoritles and Pliny make mention of them ; 

 the latter {Hist. MiincL, lib. xix. cap. 2.), in particular, relates an 

 extraordinary circumstance which happened at a Roman truffle 

 feast. As Lartius Licinius, the Roman praetor at Carthagena 

 in Spain, was eating a truffle, he bit a penny piece (denarius), a 

 small Roman silver coin. Whence Pliny infers truffles arise from 

 the accretion of matter deposited in the earth, which fact Geoffroy 

 endeavours to disprove. 



They are verj' nourishing, and are said to be strong stimu- 

 lants. They are often eaten, peeled raw, thinly sliced and then 

 soaked in wine, or only roasted in ashes. The art of cookery 

 teaches us how to prepare them in many different ways, and to 

 make them very palatable ; they are used as an addition and 

 seasoning to meat pies, sauces, and ragouts, and a particular 

 dish is made of them nearly alone. They are also used for 

 stuffing turkeys, &c. In medicine they were formerly employed, 

 when boiled, as a cataplasm for the quinsy; but now like 

 many other medicines in that disorder are but little esteemed. 

 Many physicians prohibit their being eaten, and ascribe colic, 

 palsy, and other disorders to them. The classical Frank, in his 

 Medicinal Policy^ vol. iii. p. 309., also points out certain con- 

 sequences as proceeding from their immoderate use. 



In trade, truffles perform an inferior part, they are marinated 

 (salted, and afterwards pi'eserved in oil and vinegar), and sent 

 principally from Aix, Avignon, Bordeaux, Perigord, Cette, and 

 Nice, to all the principal towns of Europe, where they are 

 served up at table even in winter. The merchants have 

 different ways of preserving them. Some, after they are dug 

 out, immediately wrap them, whilst fresh, in waxed paper, lay 

 them into a glass from which the air is extracted, and set the 

 glass in a larger vessel filled with water. Others merely dip 

 them in oil or fat, by which means, the effect of the air, and in 

 some degree, dryness, withering, and decay, are for a time 

 prevented. In trade, truffles are distinguished by different 

 names, which have relation partly to the place where they are 

 found, as Perigord truffles ; and partly to some peculiarity in 

 themselves, as white truffles (bianchetti), &c. They are sold 

 in the neighbourhood of Carlsruhe, and in other places where 

 they are found, at two florins (about half a crown) per pound, 

 and cost when sent to a distance, especially in winter, from six 

 to ten florins (from 7^^. Qd. to 125. Q>d.) per pound. In the arts, 

 as far as I know, they are not used. In London they sell at 

 from 7s. to 165. per pound. 



§ 9. Literature relating to Truffles. — To those who wish to 

 read more of the natural history of truffles, omitting the ancient 

 writings of Dioscorides, Pliny, Matthiolus, Tournefort, and 

 others of less consequence, I recommend the following treatises 



