544 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



stances, than to the abundance of the rain, which covers the 

 places where these spores exist, their dissemination into the 

 atmosphere being thereby prevented, and only facilitated by 

 the drying up of the soil, which allows the spores to float 

 readily. 1 B, August 20, 245. 



FUNGUS THEORY OF DISEASE. 



The cause of the so-called infectious diseases has always 

 been an unsolved problem in medical science, and whether it 

 be miasma or contagion, or both, is yet an undecided ques- 

 tion. Indeed, the disputants differ as to whether contagion 

 itself is purely chemical in its nature or organic that is, of 

 animal or vegetable origin. The latter opinion is at present 

 supported by many eminent physicians, and the idea that the 

 spreading of such diseases as cholera, typhus, small-pox, etc., 

 is due to specific fungi, the minute spores of which propagate 

 within the animal organism, has been received with great 

 favor. 



Professor Grohe, of Greifswald, assisted by Dr. Black, has 

 instituted a series of apparently decisive experiments on this 

 subject, and they have come to the conclusion that the the- 

 ory of the vegetable nature of infection has not yet been fully 

 demonstrated. Two species of parasitic fungi, Aspergillus 

 glaucus and Penicillum glaucum, w T ere, after suitable prepara- 

 tion, introduced into different organs of living animals, such 

 as rabbits, dogs, sheep, etc., and from a critical examination 

 of their action the following facts were ascertained: 



1. The spores of some fungi develop into mycelia within the 

 animal organism. 



2. This development occurs not only with spores brought 

 directly into the circulation, but these will also be taken up 

 when introduced into the abdominal cavity. 



3. The mycelia thus developed from the spores are the same 

 in all the organs, and only differ in their terminal ramifica- 

 tions from those grown otherwise. 



4. Aspergillus and Penicillum have, in the tissues, the same 

 form. 



5. The most extensive pathological alterations, which occa- 

 sion the destruction of the organism, are induced by the veg- 

 etation of fungi. 



0. Spores taken up into the circulation from the abdominal 



