357 



the gold-fish ; — and, 4tli, To inquire into the pathological state which 

 furnibhes the conditions necessary for the growth of fungi in living 

 animals. 



1. In July last, the author examined the crusts of Porrigo lupi- 

 nosa, readily detected the cylindrical and ramified appearances de- 

 scribed by Gruby, and confirmed his account of the development of 

 the disease. In some cases, the appearance of the crusts containing 

 the vegetations was preceded by pustules; but as nothing of the kind 

 would be observed in other instances, this seems an accidental, not 

 an essential character of the disorder. The crusts appear in seven 

 or eight days, in the form of minute, yellow, depressed spots, consist- 

 ing of a smooth, cup-shaped capsule. This capsule, as seen with a 

 magnifying power of 300 diameters, gives off from an amorphous 

 granular matter numerous jointed tubes, which discharge from their 

 extremities many round or oval bodies, the sporules or prolific germs 

 of the plant. The appearance of the Porrigo-capsule was always 

 preceded by desquamation of the cuticle. Hence it is probable that 

 the sporules insinuate themselves into the crevices, instead of spring- 

 ing up originally below the cuticle, or in its substance, as Gruby sup- 

 poses. The author was not more successful than Gruby, in commu- 

 nicating the disease by inoculation ; but nevertheless considers that 

 the doctrine of its contagious nature, generally held by medical 

 men, is sufficiently proved by other evidence. He thinks it is 

 not confined to the human race only, as he has lately detected pre- 

 cisely the same appearances on the face of a common house-mouse, 



2. "WTiile investigating the nature of pulmonary tubercles, the 

 author observed a vegetable s-tructure in the sputa expectorated 

 during life, as well as in the tubercular matter found in the lungs 

 after death, in a case of phthisis with pneumothorax. The structure 

 consisted of jointed tubes branching dichotomously, between -jl^ and 

 5 5 5 of a millimetre in diameter, and springing from an amorphous 

 granular mass. They gave off round or oval corpuscles, which ap- 

 peared to be sporules, arranged in bead-like rows. These vegeta- 

 tions seemed to have existed during life, both because they were seen 

 in fresh sputa, and because those seen in the lungs could scarcely 

 have attained their actual development in the short space of thirty- 

 six hours, which elapsed between the patient's death and the exami- 

 nation of the body. The plants resembled Link's FeniciUium glau- 



cum. 



3. The gold-fish is known to be subject to a disease, accompanied 



