RECIPES 301 



considered as a sort of dangerous crank, who should 

 be conservatively muzzled by the authorities, for the 

 safety of himself as well as the public. 



In the absence of any adequate popular guide to 



this great food resource, it may be hoped that this 



present work may afford not merely an 



Mycophagist occasional dainty entree to the menu 



missionaries of the luxurious epicure, but — a far 



more important consideration — a means 



of bringing the fungus within reach of the less-favored 



masses as a never-failing dependence for their daily 



food. 



Dr. Badham's further pertinent remarks are worth 

 quoting, in this connection, with emphasis : " As 

 soon as the reader is initiated in this class of dain- 

 ties he will, I am persuaded, lose no time in making 

 the discovery known to the poor of his neighbor- 

 hood ; while in so doing he will render an important 

 service to the country at large, by instructing the in- 

 digent and ignorant in the choice of an ample, whole- 

 some, and excellent article, which they may convert 

 into money or consume at their own tables, when 

 properly prepared, throughout the winter." 



Concerning the lavish plenitude of the fungus as 

 a food resource, a passage from a letter of the late Dr. 

 Curtis, of North Carolina, to the Rev. J. M. Berke- 

 ley, of England, many years ago, is 

 A suggestive most significant : " Of this latter qual- 

 statement ity I had become so well convinced 

 that, during our late war, I sometimes 

 averred — and I doubt if there was much, if any, exag- 

 geration in the assertion — that in some parts of 



