Ii2^ On the Production of Diseases by Fungi. 



the destruction of the caterpillar of the silk-worm by inoculating it 

 with a fungus ; and by Dr. Hannover*, by whom several sound fresh- 

 water salamanders were inoculated, and all successfully, some of the 

 animals having died through the development of the fungi thus in- 

 troduced. Other observers have probably adduced additional proofs 

 of the same wonderful and important manifestation of the power of 

 fungi in attacking and subduing the healthy living structure. 



Cheshunt, Aug. 24, 1843. 



Observations on the preceding Communication, By W. Francis. 



As the notes in question were inserted by me, it is but fair that I 

 should receive any blame attaching to them. From the perusal of 

 Mr. Hassall's observations on the first note, which obviously could 

 have no reference to a paper published nine months later, and his 

 conclusions as to what the writer of it supposed, the reader would 

 imagine that Mr. Hassall had described the inoculation of sound 

 fruit, explained the cause of decay, &c. &c. ; he will therefore be not 

 a little surprised, on referring to the paragraph to which the note 

 was appended and to which it solely applied, to find that no men- 

 tion is made by Mr. Hassall of sound fruit, but of the mode of growth 

 of fungi in a " portion of decayed apple." Further observation is 

 therefore unnecessary. 



With respect to the second note, fortunately the two concluding 

 paragraphs of Mr. Hassall's present communication completely jus- 

 tify its insertion ; it will suffice that the reader should compare Mr. 

 Hassall's paper in the August number of the 'Annals,' where he 

 supposes himself to be the first discoverer of an interesting fact, with 

 the two paragraphs in question, in which he confesses his total igno- 

 rance at that time of the numerous and complete experiments and 

 observations that had been previously published on the subject, to 

 judge how much the author has benefited by the editorial note of 

 which he complains. I could not be aware of what it was Mr. Has- 

 sall's intention to have inserted; but when it was found to be broadly 

 stated that the powers of Fungi were confined to dead matter, it was 

 the duty of the editors to their readers no less than to themselves 

 to point out the incorrectness of the assertion. But supposing the 

 word " diseased," which Mr. Hassall endeavours to show from the 

 opening paragraph had been omitted by an oversight, to have been 

 inserted, the note in question would not have been a whit the less 

 correct, as is evident from Mr. Hassall's subsequent confession. 



Mr. Hassall states that he " now knows that unexceptionable expe- 

 riments have been made," but in fairness to myself he should have 

 also stated how he came by his knowledge ; he should have informed 

 the reader that in an interview soon after the insertion of the last 

 note, he denied altogether the accuracy of the statement, and that I 



a Soie, connue vulgairement sous le nom de Muscardine. Par M. Diitrochet. 

 — Annales des Sciences Naiurelles^ Partie Zoologique, tome nouvi^iiie. 

 * MuUer's Archiv. 



