Monograph of the Truffles

...proximate to the Truffles, shows a cavity almost entirely filled and marked with veins, yet the internal surface of the peridium is not yet perfectly joined. By the same reasoning, the parenchyma of the Balsamiae (tab. I, fig. II) is hollowed out into cells, while the folds of the outer surface of the pushed-in peridium adorn this garment. In such a way, one ascends to the structure of the Truffle, which differs from the preceding ones only by a greater complication of the peridium. The Tuber oligosporum (tab. III, fig. I), which must justly be considered the prototype of the genus, shows a compact flesh wonderfully variegated with veins, which, however, under a magnifying glass, are seen to be open throughout almost their entire course and gaping on the surface of the Truffle (7).

We said that the veins, formed by the application of the surface of the pushed-in peridium, take their origin from the exterior. Let no one believe, however, that these arise indiscriminately from the entire surface of the Truffle. In some Truffles, these proceed from a single point, which forms the base of the Truffle, and to which a small pit or depression often corresponds; in others, conversely, they arise in series from the surface of the Truffle where furrows or cracks meet: finally, there are those that have an open pit in the central cavity, from which the veins are directed radially toward the periphery. From this diverse inward-pushing and complication of the peridium, Truffles exhibit variegations so diverse and constant that they suffice in themselves for most aptly establishing and separating species.

This is the structure of Truffles, the essence of which lies in the walls of the uterus or peridium (8). This marvelous construction of Truffles corresponds most perfectly with that of the brain, and specifically the cerebellum of animals, the mass of which is observed to be marked with lines in the same way (arbor vitae) (9). Thus, nature, always proceeding with the same step in the construction of organic bodies (10), has enclosed the most extensive fructifying membrane of the Truffles (the peridium) in a narrow space, without, however, having snatched its surface away from external influences.

Dioscorides, Theophrastus, Pliny, Athenaeus, and others among the ancient seekers of nature have spoken about Truffles. We owe the first and genuine history of the Truffle, however, to the younger Geoffroy (11)...