1905.] Fungi. 23 



WEEKLY EVENING MEETING, 

 Friday, February 24, 1905. 



His Grace the Duke of Northumberland, K.G. D.C.L. F.R.S., 

 President, in the Chair. 



Professor Marshall Ward, D.Sc. F.R.S. 



Fungi. 



Having pointed out that the attempts to derive the word fungus 

 from fimere, ov fimus and ago,fimgor, etc., have been shown to be 

 faihires — that it comes from the Greek o-7royyos, and is the same word 

 as sponge, the lecturer proceeded to give ilhistrations of the fungi 

 known to the ancients. These were, of course, all of the larger 

 kinds, since no knowledge of micro-fungi was possible. Nevertheless, 

 references in the Old Testament show that certain diseases — mildew, 

 smuts, etc. — were known to the Hebrews, but of course their connec- 

 tion with fungi was not suspected. 



The Greeks and Romans not only knew several forms of Amanita, 

 Agaricus, Boletus, Polyporus, and of Truffles, Morels, etc., but they 

 discriminated clearly between certain poisonous and wholesome species. 



Their ideas as to the nature and origin of such fungi may seem 

 childish to us, but they were consistent with the naif attitude of the 

 Greeks towards natural objects. Theophrastus, about 820 B.C., 

 Dioscorides, about 60 B.C., and Pliny, for example, argued that since 

 truffles and other fungi had no roots, leaves, stems, etc., they are 

 objects apart. They arise spontaneously from earth, or by fermenta- 

 tion from the sap of trees, or from water. 



It is interesting to note that Polgporus officinalis was imported 

 and used as an article of medicine not only during classical times, 

 but also for centuries afterwards. 



In mediseval times the herbalists chiefly copied from Galen, 

 Theophrastus, etc., and as they had no figures the early herbals afford 

 us Httle information. In 1576, however, Clusius gave a series of 

 woodcuts which are well worth looking at, and in 1601 he made a 

 series of water-colour sketches of eighty-two of the fungi of Austria 

 — the first drawings of the kind known. Figures in Dalechamps, 

 1536, Dodoens, 1593, and Parkinson, 1640, may also be compared. 



The next step forward was only possible after the microscope had 

 come into use as a scientific instrument. 



It is a curious point that, abundant and conspicuous as the powdery 



