BERKELEY^ ON BRITISH FUNGOLOGY. 309 



hope our medical friends will consider well. By the precipi- 

 tancy with which they have described every fungoid growth 

 they have observed as a new species of fungus^ they have done 

 much to bring discredit on the Avhole inquiry of the relation 

 of these organized bodies to diseased structures : 



" A large treatise * has been written by Robin^ relative to 

 their effects on animals^ and there are multitude of scattered 

 memoirs on the same subject; but^ unfortunately, the fungi 

 which occur in the diseases of man, or other members of the 

 animal kingdom, have seldom been examined by persons inti- 

 mately acquainted with these fungi, so that the species or 

 even genera in question are often doubtful. It is, however, 

 certain that many of those which are found on different parts of 

 the mucous membrane of animals, in a more or less advanced 

 stage of growth, are, like the fungi of yeast, referable to com- 

 mon species of mould. It is not probable that in these cases 

 fungi originate disease, though it is pretty certain that they fre- 

 quently aggravate it. The spores of our common moulds float 

 about everywhere, and, as they grow Avith great rapidity, they 

 are able to establish themselves on any surface where the 

 secretion is not sufficiently active or healthy to throw off the 

 intruder. Where the spores are very abundant, they may 

 sometimes, like other minute bodies, obstruct the minute cells 

 of the lungs, but there is no reason to believe that thej^ induce 

 epidemic diseases, such as cholera or influenza, according to 

 an opinion once somewhat prevalent, Avhatever their abundance 

 may be, or however easily they may be collected, as some 

 assert, at the mouths of sewers, or in other situations likely 

 to produce miasma." 



There is no doubt that some definite forms of fungi, as, for 

 instance, Sarcina Ventriculi, inhabit the human body ; but ex- 

 periments are yet Avanted to show that many other forms 

 referred to as species really deserve that position. Of course 

 it is important to record all forms which those fungi assume, 

 as at particular stages of their development they may become 

 diagnostic of disease. 



The culture of fungi appears to be as certain as that of 

 most plants, and even those minuter forms on Avhich the mi- 

 croscopist may be expected to exercise his skill. Thus Mr. 

 Berkeley says : 



'^ As regards matters of science or curiosity, the reproduc- 

 tive bodies of many fungi can be made to germinate very 

 readily by placing them in fluid in an insulated cell, or by 



"* ' Histoire Naturelle des Vegetaux Parasites qui croisseiit sur i'Homme 

 et sur les Animaux vivants.' Paris, 8vo. 1853. Par Charles Robiu. 



