FUNGL 
eoal remaining in the retort, amounts to rather more 
than one-fourth of the dried fungin subjected to distil- 
lation, This charcoal exhibited traces of sulphureted 
hydrogen, and contained sand, of ie, and 
traces of carbonate of lime, and phosphate of alumina, 
. Fungin does not dissolve in alkaline solutions, in 
which respect it differs essentially from lignin, which is 
readily dissolved by a weak alkali; but if fungin be 
boiled ina very strong alkaline ley, it is partly dissolved, 
and a saponaceous ct obtained. Ammonia dis- 
solves a small portion of fungin, and lets it fall again in 
white flocks, when exposed to the air. wm 
Weak sulphuric acid has no action on yp ot but 
when concentrated this acid chars it, and at the same 
time 5 acid and vinegar are formed. —Muria- 
tic acid dissolves it very slowly, and converts it into a 
gelatinous matter. It 1s thrown down in flocks, by the 
addition of potash to the acid. Chlorine passed over 
dry fungin suspended in water, converts it into a yel- 
low matter, having at first an acrid taste, which it gra- 
py oe by exposure to the air. k 1 
. When digested in diluted nitric acid, azotic gas is 
disengaged. Heated with concentrated nitric acid, it 
swells and effervesces at first violently, but the action 
soon subsides. When the acid is driven off, there re- 
mains a liquor containing oxalate of lime, some prussic 
acid, and two fatty matters, the most abundant similar 
to tallow, the other to wax. By evaporating the liquid, 
a considerable quantity of oxalic acid in crystals was 
obtained. The mond water still crac = acid, 
and a portion of the bitter princip indigo. 
Whew fengin is steeped og an infusion of nut galls, it 
imbibes a considerable ion of the tannin, and ac- 
quires a fawn colour. When left to putrefy spontane- 
ously in water, it emitted first the odour of putrefying 
gluten, then that of putrid meat. Neither acid nor am- 
monia was found in the water; but it contained a por- 
tion of mucilage, which gave it viscosity, and the pro- 
perty of precipitating with acetate of lead. The fun- 
gin itself assumed the aspect of gluten, ‘without how- 
ever possessing its properties. 
. The abaresaetaian which we have to notice is the 
doletic acid, which M. Braconnot obtained from the 
juice of the Boletus pseudo-igniarius, by the followi 
process, The juice was boiled, filtered, and evapora 
cautiously to the consistence of a oe This syrup 
was repeatedly digested in alcohol, the insoluble portion 
was dissolved in water, and precipitated by nitrate of 
lead. The white precipitate thus obtained was mixed 
with water, and decomposed by sulphureted hydrogen 
gas. The water being now evaporated, yields nume- 
rous crystals, which constitute boletic acid, the proper- 
ties of which are as follow: 
When purified by solution in alcohol and crystalliza- 
tion, it is white, not altered b exposure to the air, and 
consists in irregular four-sided! prisms. Its taste is si- 
milarto that of tartar. It requires 180 times its weight 
_ of water to dissolve it at the temperature of 68°. It is 
soluble in 45 times its weight of alcohol. 
The aqueous solution or stn vegetable blues. Ni- 
trate of lead occasions a precipitate’ in it, which is redis- 
solved by agitation. It precipitates the red oxide of 
iron completely from its solutions in the form of rust 
eoloured flocks ; but it does not throw down the black 
oxide of this metal. It precipitates nitrate of silver in 
the state of a white powder, which is soluble in nitric 
acid. Nitrate of mercury is precipitated in the same 
state, but the solution dissolves with difficulty in nitric 
acid, Neither lime nor barytes water produce any ef- 
< 
55 
fect upon the aqueous solution of this acid. When bo- 
letic acid is heated, it rises in white vapours, which ir- 
ritate the throat, and condense on surrounding boilies 
in the form of a farinaceous powder. When distilled, 
the at part of itsublimes unaltered, excepting that 
it afterwards crystallizes more regularly. At the same 
time a little liquid appears, having a strong smell of 
acetic acid. 
Boletate | Rayer is a salt which crystallizes in 
flat four-si prisms, and is soluble in 26 times its 
weight of water at the temperature of 68°. Its taste is 
ng, saline, and somewhat sharp.. When heated it 
melts, swells, and sublimes. It precipitates red oxide 
of iron ;. but does not alter ‘sulphates of lime, alumina, 
or manganese. It slow] coher peiguar nitrate of co 
in blue silky needles. Bo tate of potash is very solu- 
ble in water, and crystallizes with difficulty. Acids pre- 
cipitate the boletic acid from it. When boletic act is 
heated with carbonate of lime, it dissolves it with effer- 
vescence. The boletate of lime crystallizes in flat four- 
sided prisms, This salt has little taste, and requires at 
least 110 times its weight of water, at the temperature 
of 72.5°, to dissolve it. It is decomposed by oxalic and 
sulphuric acids. Boletate of barytes is. an acidulous salt 
in white plates, little soluble in water or nitric acid: 
When thrown on a red hot iron it burns rapidly, with a 
red flame and striking scintillations, leaving for residue 
carbonate of barytes. When boletic acid is heated with 
iron filings and water, hy is emitted, and a 
yellow liquor is obtamed with an inky taste. See Ann. 
de Chim. vol. xxx. 
From the preceding account of the composition of 
mushrooms, it must strike the most careless reader, that 
in. their nature the fungi hold a middle rank between 
animals and vegetables, or, in other words, that they 
partake of the nature of both. It was necessary to be 
uainted with this circumstance, before noticing an 
opinion concerning the animal ‘nature of mushrooms, 
which has been sanctioned by the authority of very re- 
spectable names. 
It is well known that the zoophytes, or the various 
kinds of corals, and corallines, and sponges, were, by 
the older botanists, considered as belonging to the ve- 
getable kingdom. Scarcely had the conjectures of Peys- 
sonell been rendered probable by Trembley, and de- 
monstrated as true by that ornament of our country 
Ellis, and the animal nature of those bodies establish- 
ed, than botanists began to suspect, that they were sway- 
ing the sceptre over tribes which were -aliens in their 
kingdom. The zoophytes were thus removed from 
them, and they anticipated a still farther reduction of 
their subjects, in consequence of the mixed nature of 
the fungi. A circumstance now took place in botani- 
cal opinion, which we have often witnessed happen to 
other creeds, Destroy the validity of one tenet, and 
you pave the way for suspicions as to the soundness of 
the remainder. One class of bodies formerly consider- 
ed as plants, were now demonstrated to be of an ani- 
mal nature; and, led away by false or imperfect ana-~ 
logies, other tribes of reputed vegetables were consider 
as having equally strong claimg to advancement in 
the scale of being. In particular, the fungi were consi- 
dered as having so near a resemblance tothe zoophytes in 
many respects, that Butner, Weiss, Muller, pli 
ave it as their opinion, that they ssed animality. 
This 0 inion has been generally rejected by botanists, 
as well as by zoologists. We pretend not to decide the 
im t question ; but we venture to assert, that the 
claims of the fungi (many of them at least) to rank as 
Fungi. 
