HISTORY OF MYCOLOGY 9 



the fungus hyphae or haustoria upon the plasma membrane of the host 

 cells, making this more permeable to the contained solutes so that they 

 diffuse out and are absorbed by the fungus. 



The whole field of fungus physiology offers many interesting lines of 

 study and cannot be entered upon within the limits of this book. Nor 

 will space permit the extensive discussion of medical mycology (see 

 C. W. Dodge, 1935) or technical mycology (Lafar, 1903, 1910). Only 

 brief mention is made in Chapter 16 of the production of antibiotics. The 

 genetics of fungi is noted where necessary for the understanding of the 

 development of various groups of these organisms. 



History of Mycology 



A very brief sketch of a few steps in the history of mycology should 

 not be omitted. The larger fungi, or rather their conspicuous fruiting 

 bodies, were well known to the ancients, but knowledge of their true 

 nature and their manner of growth had to await the invention of the 

 microscope. The Romans knew and distinguished various edible and 

 poisonous mushrooms. The Emperor Nero is reported to have been very 

 fond of Amamta caesarea (Schaeff.) Fr., which owes its specific epithet to 

 this association. The word fungus (related to the verb fungor, to flourish) 

 was applied to mushrooms and to excrescences from the ground or from 

 trees. The Greek word mykes (hvktjs) was applied to some types of fungi. 

 From this comes the characteristic part of the word mycology. For untold 

 centuries the Chinese have known and used certain fungi for food and 

 others for medicine but, as in the Occident, with httle real knowledge as 

 to the true nature of these organisms. 



After the invention of printing in Europe there began to appear 

 various "herbals," describing and, in many cases, illustrating more or 

 less elaborately the plants of southern and western Europe. In some of 

 these the larger fungi are illustrated. Thus Clusius (Charles de la Cluse, 

 1529-1609) in 1601 devoted many illustrations and many pages of text 

 to the discussion of edible and poisonous fungi. No attempt was made to 

 classify these into genera or families as these terms are now used. In 1623 

 in his "Pinax Theatri Botanici," Gaspard Bauhin (1560-1624) attempted 

 to bring together all plants known to him or to his predecessors. He 

 divided the approximately 100 species of fungi and lichens into groups 

 to which he gave names. The idea of the genus as a definite category for 

 the purposes of classification had not yet become firmly established, so 

 that some of his group names include directly, as the next subordinate 

 rank, the species, while in other cases there are intermediate categories. 

 All lichens he included in the group Muscus Saxatilis vel Lichen (9 species) . 

 Under the name Fungus he included 81 species which are distributed now 

 among the Agaricaceae, Boletaceae, Polyporaceae, Clavariaceae, Auricu- 



