M U S H R O O M. 
red part .underneath will change to a dark colour. In 
order to cultivate them, open the ground about the 
roots of the mvjhrooms, where you will find the earth 
very often full of hard white knobs, which are the off- 
fets or young mvjhrooms ; tliefe fhould be carefully ga¬ 
thered, preferving them in lumps with the earth about 
them, and planted in hot-beds. Miller .—An upftart; a 
wretch rifen from the dunghill.—Mufhrooms come up in 
a night, and yet they are unfown; and therefore fuch as 
are upftarts in ftate, they call in reproach mvjhrooms. 
Bacon's Nat. Hijl. 
Tully, the humble mvjhroom fcarcely known, 
The lowly native of a country town. Dryden. 
Mushroom may be derived from the French moufferon, 
which is from movjjie, mofs. But it is very remarkable, 
that what the French call moufferon is the fmall white 
fort which we call champignon \ and what they call cham¬ 
pignon is really our common mufhroom, Agaricus cam- 
peftris: as if it had been done for the cruel purpofe of 
puzzling the refpetftive foreigners in the two neighbour¬ 
ing kingdoms. 
Confidering the truth of Bernardin St. Pierre’s obfer- 
vation, that “ Botany, furrounded by her fyfterns, offers 
us, like Aftronomy, nothing more than a dull and cold no¬ 
menclature, and divifions Ip lit into fubdivifions, without 
meaning and without end;” we have availed ourfelves 
of a l'pontaneous communication from a friend, who has 
endeavoured to enliven the fubjeft; and we prefent it to 
our readers as an addition to the article Agaricus, where 
all that relates to the botanical hiftory of the mufhroom 
may be found. See alfo the article Botany, vol. iii. 
p. 288. 
The hiftory of many curious produftions of the earth 
is ftill enveloped in fuch impenetrable clouds of uncer¬ 
tainty and doubt, that whatever may drop from the de- 
fcriptive pen of a minute obferver of the admirable ways 
of Nature, cannot but prove highly interefting, not only 
to tlje profefied botanift, in order to enliven the dulnefs 
of his purfuits, but even to thofe who never made the 
fecrets of phyfical caufes and refults their particular 
Itudy. With the torch of inveftigation in his hand, the 
genius of difcovery has often attempted to lift up the 
veil, and draw afide the facred curtain which feems to 
have fecured againft mortal curiofity the generative myf- 
teries of the mufhroom. Surmifes have been gradually 
excited, traces of procreative powder carefully followed, 
and even means of reproducing the individual plant ulti¬ 
mately obtained : yet, as if the interefting fable of Pfyche 
had been invented to bear allulion to thefe unfruitful 
efforts, the moment the light approaches, the defired ob¬ 
ject vanifties fo rapidly, that it leaves inveftigation with¬ 
out reward, experiment without fuccefs, and curiofity 
without hope. However, that innate ardour which the 
human foul generally feels when on the road of inquiry 
into the marvellous works of the Creator ; (a fentiment 
which, as an exclufive prerogative, feems to warrant the 
boon of immortality after this evanefcent life, and with 
it an univerfal knowledge to fucceed our ignorance; and 
an eternal light to compenfate the diftrefting obfcurity of 
our days, Quanta Juh noclc jaceret nojira dias, Lucan;) 
this ardour ought not to relax at the light of difficulties, 
or to pine in the gloom of reiterated difappointment. 
Obftinacy and refiftance are often the means of Itimu- 
lating fupinenefs and floth into activity and enthufiafm; 
and fome minds have received fuch a peculiar caft of 
perfevering undauntednefs, that the more recondite and 
abftrufe the object of their fpeculation, the deeper the 
abyfs they want to fathom, or the higher the flight they 
ought to take to apprehend the fupreme defideratum of 
their purfuit, the more effe&ual alfo are their indefati¬ 
gable endeavours. Had the pale fpedtre of difappoint¬ 
ment appalled a Newton, a Locke, a Linnaius, in their 
firft attempt at feeking the origin of light, of ideas, of 
•vegetable progeneration, how many bold and admirable 
27U 
efforts would have remained among mere poflibilities, 
how many important difcoveries would grovel ftill in the 
idle bofom, in the barren womb of ignorance ! To lit 
down, with clownifh content, before a beautiful plant, 
without enquiring into the myfteries of its organization, 
would give a death-blow to all progrefs in natural fcience, 
and level the active mind of man with the paflive inftjnbt 
of the brute ; and indeed, were we to be fatisfied with 
mere definitions as we find them, we fhould take the moft 
injurious prejudices againft fteadinefs in enquiry, and im¬ 
provement in knowledge. Dr. Johnfon, for inftance, tells 
us, at once, and as if cx cathedra, at the word Vege¬ 
table, that it is, “ any thing that has growth without 
fenfation, as plants.” How can any manaflert, with con¬ 
viction and certainty, that plants have no feeling ! Al¬ 
though the mind recoils from the diftrefting idea, that the 
rofe and the cabbage feel under the nail of the girl that 
plucks the one, or the knife of the gardener that cuts 
the other; yet, do we not fee the wound inflifled on the 
plant fenfibly bleed, if we may call blood the liquid 
which iflues out of it ? Do W'e not fee the parts afflicted, 
writhe, curl up, and fhrink, as if in exquifite pain; and 
the mother-tree languifh and die, if the wound, reaching 
the vital fyftem, prove mortal ? Has the mimofa no feel¬ 
ing, and the myrtle no fenfations ? the one whole virgin- 
leaf gently droops at the flighteft touch; the other who 
clings to the glafs windows of the cottage to fip the air, to 
face the fun, to enjoy the light of the day ? Such ideas are 
mere coverings foridlenefs and indifference in natural in¬ 
veftigation, and ought not to be encouraged. Let us go 
forward with eagernefs to acquire, boldnefs tofubdue, and 
carefulnefs to retain, whatever we may gather in a field 
which Providence has laid at our feet; in order that, from 
the ftnalleft and apparently moft infignificant of his works, 
we may raife our humble and grateful regard towards 
Him, who gave life to all in his magnificence and for his 
own glory, the only objeft that the Omnipotent could 
have in view, when performing (for reafons unknown to 
us in this world) the aftonilhingly beautiful work of the 
creation. It is not always in the immenfe regions of the 
fpheres that we are to fearc’n for the moft brilliant proofs 
of the wifdom and goodnefs of God ; the moft defpicable 
beings, in appearance, the doom of which is to be trod 
upon and trampled underfoot, whole fudden birth, epbe- 
inerous life, and frailty of conftitution, feem to expert 
from man no other treatment than fcorn, neglebt, and 
contempt; thefe beings, if properly ftudied and well un- 
derftood, will become a l’erious fource of meditation upon 
the infinite power of the Creator, and upon our inlignifi- 
cance among the innumerable tribes of his creatures. 
Thefe preliminary obfervations will lead us to confider, 
1. The Reproduction of the Mvjhroom. —This plant differs 
from all others in many and eflential points. The man¬ 
ner in which it is reproduced has been hitherto concealed 
from the intelligence of man; hence the denomination 
of Cryptogamous, given to the whole order. Reafoning, 
founded upon analogy, will naturally ftiovv that mulh- 
rooms mult arife from the diftention of fome fort of feed ; 
but this feed, which, as it may be luppofed, is contained 
■in, or identically united with, the very fine dull exhaled 
by fome tribes of fungi, when ripe and prefied externally, 
this feed is fo evanelcent, fo imperceptible, that it baffles 
the moft ftrenuous microfcopical efforts ; and yet from it 
will often be produced a plant, the weight of which is 
fometimes more than two pounds. This dull, which con¬ 
tains within itfelf the incomprehenfible property of re¬ 
producing a being fimilar to that out of which it flew into 
the air; this teeming powder, entrufted by Providence 
with the uninterrupted propagation of the fungus, through 
the fucceflion of ages, to the very laft day of fublunary 
exiftence, mult be diffufed in the whole atmofphere, and* 
carried on the wings of the winds, circulate with them; 
till, falling ultimately on a fpot fit to give it increafe, it 
adheres to the foil, fucks inltindtively the analogous ele¬ 
ments exclufively adapted to its fubliftence, and in a few 
hours 
