34G ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



and the factories in India have greatly suffered from their presence. Solu- 

 tions of arsenic, sulphate of iron, and sulphate of copper, though highly 

 concentrated, do not prevent the growth of some fungi of a low order, 

 though they are at once destructive to other species. An obscure kind of 

 mould is sometimes developed in Madeira wine, and a few years since a little 

 mould was discovered in the solution of copper employed for electrotyping 

 in the department of the Const Survey of Washington, and proved an intol- 

 erable plague to the men of science. Rapidity of growth as well as locality 

 is very remarkable in certain species. Fungous mould will sometimes appear 

 in the inside of bread a few hours after it has been baked, as was once noto- 

 rious with the coarse "pain de munition" or barrack bread at Paris, in which 

 a beautiful red mould appeared in an incredibly short time. It was found 

 upon examination that the spores (reproductive cells) of certain fungi 

 would endure moist heat equal to that of boiling water without parting with 

 their power of germination. Perhaps the most curious habitat of a fungus 

 was that discovered in America by Schweinitz, viz. a piece of iron which 

 had been red hot only a few hours before. Mr. Berkeley answers for the 

 true nature of this product, as he possesses a portion of the original speci- 

 men. He has seen specimens of another species growing on a leaden 

 cistern at Kew, from which it could derive no nutriment. No depth that 

 man can descend to seems too deep for these plants, and we, ourselves, have 

 discovered a luxuriant crop of them fifteen hundred feet underground, in 

 one of the deepest coal-mines. No height that man can ascend to seems too 

 high for them, and they appear in due and different orders in the hissing hot 

 valleys towards the base of the Sikkim Himalayas, while higher up are sub- 

 tropical species, and as you ascend, multitudes of species identical with, or 

 closely allied to, northern European species; nor do they cease until they 

 reach an altitude of eighteen thousand feet. Of cockney heights it may be 

 mentioned that a particular species has been found on cinders, in about the 

 last habitat we should expect, on the outside of the dome of St. Paul's. 



It is very difficult to say where fungi may not be found, since they are 

 sometimes developed in situations apparently excluded completely from the 

 external air, as in the potato mould, in cavities of the fruit of the tomato, in 

 ha/el-nuts, and even in an egg. How they have gained entrance to such 

 habitats it is impossible to say, though it is known that the spawn of fungi 

 has found a hidden pathway through the closest structures. The depth to 

 which fungous spawn penetrates, and the speed Avith which it spreads, are 

 often astonishing. In a few months, and in a damp situation favorable to 

 the development of fungi, the most solid timber will sometimes show une- 

 quivocal traces of spawn. Elm trunks, which were perfectly sound when 

 felled, have been penetrated by the end of the second year with spawn to 

 within a few inches of the centre; and, in this instance, vegetation must have 

 proceeded in the trunk for nearly twelve months before any fungi could 

 establish themselves. The growth and extension of the too famous dry-rot 

 are known to everybody. In fir-built ships it is the species of fungus named 

 Merulius lacrymans, while in oak-built ships it is the Polyporus Jiybiidus. 

 Instances have occurred in which dry-rot has penetrated solid structures of 

 brick. It is curious that the spawn of this fungus can often elude and defy 

 the artifices and skill of the most sagacious human being. It can eat out 

 tiie heart of his ships and the foundation of his houses. This almost intan- 

 gible product of one of the lower orders of vegetation can silently render 

 most fragile what was once most solid, can sap the very floor on which man 



