CHAPTER IX.
USES OE EU NG I.
F ungi perform an important office in tlie economy of Nature,
though they do not tend, like other plants, to keep
up the balance between the animal and vegetable world as
regards the supply of oxygen, which they tend to diminish
rather than to replace. They, however, not only afford a supply
of nutriment to hundreds of living beings, but by their
fermentative and putrefactive powers, as well as their living
so often at the expense of the hardest vegetable structures,
which they tend to decompose, they prepare a rich supply of
vegetable mould for future generations, besides destroying
those structures which have already performed their functions,
and are merely cumbering the surface of the earth.
As Fungi are in general highly nitrogenous vegetables, it is
probable, a priori, if they contain no poisonous or injurious
element, and are not disagreeable in taste, that they will form
an acceptable and nutritious article of food. Experience shows
this to be the case; for not only do savage tribes like the
Fuegians adopt certain species as their staple food during
many months, but iu a considerable part of Europe Fungi are
largely consumed when fresh, and preserved in casks for winter
use. I t should seem that, for this latter purpose, such
species as are firm and easily preserved are collected almost
indiscriminately, the vinegar in which they are kept in all
probability neutralizing the poisonous alkali which all of them
contain .in a greater or less proportion. The use, however, of
fresh Fungi is not always unattended with danger. Some
species seem to be uniformly poisonous, while others, and
amongst these even the common Mushroom,—though usually
safe, occasionally lead to mischief. This, in all probability,
depends upon the varying quantity of poisonous alkali which
enters into their composition. Incredible as it may seem to
us, who never scruple to eat the true Mushroom, that species
is most carefully excluded from Italian markets; while, on
the contrary, with the exception of the Truffle and Morel, it is
almost the only one which is allowed to be exposed for sale
in Paris.
In countries where the consumption of Fungi is large, accidents
constantly happen, notwithstanding the pains which
are taken to exclude doubtful species from the markets, in
consequence of mistakes as to species, though it is probable
that the peasantry are far better acquainted with their distinctions
than ourselves. In our own country, the prejudice
against the use of anything except the common Mushroom is
very strong. We are, however, surrounded by a great deal of
wholesome and pleasant food, of which we cannot avail ourselves
from mere ignorance. The common fairy-ring Champignon
(Plate 14, fig. 5), for example, is the very best of all
our Fungi, and yet there is scarcely one person in a thousand
who dare venture to use it. With common observation, no
mistake need he made, though another species oi Marasmius,
M. urens (Plate 14, fig. 3), possessing highly acrid qualities,
sometimes accompanies it, and might pass muster, if attention
be not paid to the narrower gills and their darker colour.