esculent

Thou neuer hadſt in thy houſe to ſtay mens ſtomackes / A peece of Suffolke cheeſe, or Gammon of Bacon, / Or any eſculent, as the learned call it, / For their emolument, but ſheere drinke only.

In a raw state, a piece the size of a pea of either of the three fungi above-mentioned, if placed on the tongue, would cause intolerable agony. Possibly if well cooked some of the poisonous principles might vanish, but we question whether such species should be mentioned amongst esculents in a popular book, simply because a wild "Russian" could eat some of the plants mentioned, possibly to the accompaniment of a draught of rancid train-oil. Some of the so-called esculents are tough subjects, as Polysporus squamosus and P. fomentarius; we venture to say that if anyone should succeed in getting a slice of the first into his inside it would be a matter of surprise to his friends if he ever got a slice of anything else in.