are repelled by the smoke. The Polyporus squamosus makes a razor strop (!) far superior to any of those at present patented and sold with high-sounding epithets, far beyond their deserts. To prepare the Polyporus for this purpose, it must be cut from the ash-tree in the autumn, when it has been dried, and its substance has become consolidated; it is then to be flattened out for twenty-four hours in a press, after which it should be carefully rubbed with pumice, sliced longitudinally, and every slip that is free from the erosions of insects should be then glued upon a wooden stretcher. Cesalpinus knew all this! and the barbers in his time knew it too; and it is not a little remarkable that so useful an invention should, in an age of puffing, advertisement, and improvement like our own, have been entirely lost sight of. The Agaricus muscarius is largely employed in Kamtschatka, in decoction with the Epilobium angustifolium, as an intoxicating liquor."-P. 20.

The opening sentence of this article, quoting Sir John Pringle's words, declared that nothing grows in vain.' Yet in a great measure, up to the present time, the fungi have grown in vain, or nearly so, for our fellow-countrymen. Spite of all that both can and ought to be said as to the dangers attending the indiscriminate use of these plants as esculents, it cannot be too widely made known, that upon the broad fields, and in the wild woods of England, every year beholds the wasteful destruction of an enormous mass of excellent, safe, and nourishing food. No country is richer in esculent fungi than is our own; while only four or five find their way into our markets. The gracious hand of Divine Providence has enriched us with at least thirty species, which may be safely partaken of, and some of which are a most excellent article of diet. No markets might, therefore, be better supplied than the English, and yet England is the only country in Europe where this important and savoury food is, from ignorance or prejudice, left to perish ungathered. In France, Germany, and Italy, this tribe of plants not only constitutes for weeks together the sole diet of thousands, but the residue, either fresh or dried, or otherwise preserved in oil, brine, or vinegar, is sold by the poor, and forms a very valuable source of income to many who have no other produce to bring into the market. Well, then, may fungi be called by M. Roques, the manna of the poor.'

6

However desirous, we must add, we may feel to extend the resources of our struggling poor, we never wish to see a fungus market opened so long as those in authority are as negligent of the public health as they now are. Without a doubt, its first sale would be the distribution of baskets full of poison to a hundred homes. Untaught by popular experience, and unguided by a sufficient knowledge of botany, and of the diagnostic differences between the safe and unsafe species, the poor fungus-gatherer

would cull indiscriminately the teeming produce of the woods and fields, the moment he was informed that many more fungi than he commonly collected were good for food, and the result may be conceived. By all means, then, let us circulate the information that food in large quantities lies scattered about the country, waiting the hand of the gatherer; but at the same time, forbid its sale save at public markets, where its salubrity should be decided by competent authority. We might in this matter take example by the prudent regulations of the special committee of health at Rome, as they are communicated to us in the following summary from the pen of Professor Sanguinetti, the official inspector of the fungus market at Rome:—

For forty days during the autumn, and for about half that period every spring, large quantities of funguses picked in the immediate vicinity of Rome, from Frascati, Rocca di Papa, Albana, beyond Monte Mario, towards Ostia and the neighbourhood of the cities of Veii and Gabii, are brought in at different gates. In the year 1837, the government instituted the so-called Congregazione Speciale di Sanita, which, among other duties, was more particularly required to take into serious consideration the commerce of funguses, from the unrestricted sale of which, during some years past, cases of poisoning had not unfrequently occurred. The following were the decisions arrived at by this body:

1. That for the future an inspector of funguses, versed in botany, should be appointed to attend the market in the place of the peasant, whose supposed practical knowledge had hitherto been held as a sufficient guarantee for the public safety.

2. That all the funguses brought into Rome by the different gates should be registered, under the surveillance of the principal officer, in whose presence also the baskets were to be sealed up, and the whole for that day's consumption sent under escort to a central depôt.

3. That a certain spot should be fixed upon for the fungus market, and that nobody, under penalty of fine and imprisonment, should hawk them about the streets.

4. That at seven o'clock, a.m., precisely, the inspector should pay his daily visit and examine the whole of the contents of the baskets, previously emptied on the ground by the proprietors, who were then to receive, if the funguses were approved of, a printed permission of sale from the police, and to pay for it an impost of one baioccho (a halfpenny) on every ten pounds.

5. That quantities under ten pounds should not be taxed.

6. That the stale funguses of the preceding day, as well as those that were mouldy, bruised, filled with maggots, or dangerous, together with any specimen of the common mushroom (Agaricus campestris (!) ) detected in any of the baskets, should be sent under escort and thrown into the Tiber.

7. That the inspector should be empowered to fine or imprison all those refractory to the above regulations; and finally, that he should furnish a weekly report to the tribunal of provisions of the proceeds of the sale.'-Pp. 8, 9.

Such a sanitary code would scarcely in all points suit the English market; but it contains clauses which may prove valuable hints for the formation of a similar one, on the presumption that the sale of the fungus will at some future time rise to the dignity of a commerce. It would be easy to enforce the sale of fungi only at stated places, and to command the services of many versed in mycological science at stated intervals to inspect, approve, or condemn, the specimens submitted for sale. A boon of great value would be conferred upon the public by such an arrangement, and it is little questionable that an annual means of occupation for hundreds of now idle, hungering, or even starving poor would be thus opened. We heartily sympathize with Dr. Badham in this matter. While it is doubtful whether a lasting and wide benefit would be extended to the poor by the fungus trade, it is not in the least doubtful that a very considerable addition to their means of existence would be thus made for a certain period in every year; and these are not the times even when a small supply of food is to be despised, or suffered to be neglected. From the statistical returns of the Roman Tribunale della Grascie, it is evident, that the fungus trade is not so despicable a thing as might be imagined, when once its resources are developed, and its regularity ensured. The return of taxed mushrooms in the city of Rome during the last ten years, gives a yearly average of between sixty and eighty thousand pounds weight; and when it is remembered that quantities under ten pounds are not taxed, that large quantities are also disposed of in bribes, fees, and presents, it may fairly be estimated at double this amount. The average price for funguses in the Roman market is about six baiocchi, or three pence per pound, in the fresh state; hence the actual commercial value of the fungi sold in this state at Rome alone equals nearly £2,000 a year. But the fresh funguses after all form only a part of the whole consumption; immense quantities are also sold in the dried, pickled, or preserved conditions, and the price of these is about 1s. 3d. per pound. Adding this to the last we should find that the fungus trade of this city falls little short of £4,000 sterling per annum! Surely here are facts enough to set a whole expedition of fungus-gatherers on the search. Would that the British Government would take a lesson for once from the Celestials, and imitating the enlightened carefulness of that power, not only provide food for the starving, but teach them how to use that which already lies decaying at their very thresholds. Let us hope to see ere long a niche in Covent-garden market for the neglected fungi, and a scientific policeman, if no better may be provided, acting the part of the Inspettore dei funghi.

As we have felt anxious to set in prominence the economical importance of the fungi, we have made less frequent reference to Mrs. Hussey's magnificent work than would have been the case under other circumstances. The book is truly a beautiful one. The illustrations are from the lady's own portfolio; and for scientific accuracy, delicacy of colouring, and artistic elegance of arrangement, we are acquainted with few illustrated works in botany which will bear comparison with them. The letter-press is in a light, agreeable style, and he must be a cold-hearted reader who cannot catch something of the mycological passion with which this enthusiastic authoress contrives to enliven her, pages. There are few other lithographic presses in England, if any, that could have turned out such a work. The copious extracts we have made from Dr. Badham's work sufficiently attest our high estimation of its merit. Most heartily do we desire for it such a circulation as will diffuse the valuable information (valuable even in a pecuniary sense) which it contains, throughout Great Britain. Although we should be sorry to see beef-steaks exchanged for diet of fungi, we should rejoice to see fungi take a superior rank to the little nutritious esculents in more common use. Dr. Badham's book, by the nature and startling character of the facts it treats of, is well calculated to awaken public sympathy with its object, and attention to its subject. What country gentleman, we ask, would be without a book on his library shelves, by the help of which he might every autumn many times more than realize twice its cost, in obtaining, for the mere trouble of collection, a savoury and excellent article of dietnot to mention the benefits he might thereby be enabled to confer on his poorer neighbours, by enlightening them upon the value and importance of what they had hitherto stigmatized as toad-stools. The illustrations to this work are by Mrs. Hussey, to whom every feature of this strange family of plants seems familiar, and are executed in the best style of art. The general merit of this work makes us unwilling to look too narrowly into the vices of its occasional style, but we may reasonably ask, why a man of Dr. Badham's attainments and practical good sense should have thought it necessary to favour us with the youthful ode to Eupepsia,' which appears at page 29, and commences with the following verse :—

'Happy the man whose prudent care

Plain boiled and roast discreetly bound;

Content to feed on homely fare,

On British ground.' (!!)

Think too, gentle reader, of such lines as the following, which

shine in page 31, and prove how strongly the learned Doctor's muse savours of the hospital :

Lies the last meal all undigested still,

Does chyle impure your poisoned lacteals fill,
Does Gastrodynia's tiny gimlet bore,

Where the crude load obstructs the rigid door?'

Were it not for the sound, practical common sense, which forms a main ingredient in the book, we should feel tempted to speak more severely of these poetical effusions. We may hope that in the next edition, the 'Esculent Funguses of England, will be introduced to the public consideration without this garnish. We must not omit to mention, that, in addition to ample directions for the diagnosis of the esculent funguses, some receipts for cooking them are given, which are likely to prove useful to the maître or maîtresse de cuisine.

Literary Sutelligence.

Just Published.

The Year-Book of the Country; or, the Field, the Forest, and the Fireside. By William Howitt.

History of Alexander the Great. By Jacob Abbott.

Sermons on some of the Subjects of the Day. Preached at Trinity Church, Marylebone. By Gilbert Elliot, D.D., Dean of Bristol.

"It is written" or, every Word and Expression contained in the Scriptures proved to be from God. From the French of Professor Gaussen.

Mr. Morell, and the Sources of his Information: an Investigation of his Philosophy of Religion.

Discourses on Holy Scripture, with Notes and Illustrations. By John Kelly.

Thoughts for Home, in Prose and Verse. By Mrs. Thomas Geldart.

The Wise taken in their own Craftiness; or, the Wisdom of the Clergy proved to be folly. By John Thomas, M.D., Richmond, Virginia, U.S.

Thy Past Impressions. By Rev. Wm. Clarkson, Author of " India and the Gospel."

Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Gospels. By Rev. Albert Barnes. Carefully revised by Rev. Samuel Green. Part I.

Infidelity tested by Fact. A Series of Papers reprinted from 'The Church.' By Rev. T. Manning.

Five Views in the Oasis of Siwah, accompanied by a map of the Libyan Desert. Designed by Bayle St. John, Author of Two Years' Residence in a Levantine Family,' &c., and drawn on stone, by Messrs. Aumont and Housselin. Light in the Dark Places; or, Memorials of Christian Life in the Middle Ages. Translated from the German of the late Augustus Neander.