AN INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF FUNGI. 279 
one, two, three, four or more different kinds of fruit, all of which 
are capable of being again the starting points of their species. For 
instance, there are the dust-like productions called conidia, then 
the macro-conidia, the pycnidia, stylospore, the ascospore. Many 
an interesting research has proved this to be the case, and proof 
after proof is furnished by those who investigate these things, that 
the moulds are the forerunners of higher forms of life. Hence 
one use of the study of Fungi is to look into these, because they 
give us such interesting materials. ‘The ease of the study is not 
lessened thereby, but the pleasure and profit will be. 
Take another point : how useful they are medicinally. The ergot 
of rye has saved life, although its abuse may have deprived this 
world of many an existence ; still we have not now to examine the 
abuses to which Fungi may be applied, and no doubt can exist that 
the ergot has been most beneficial. The testimony to this, how- 
ever, may be left in the hands of those whose mission on earth is 
to cure the bodies of their fellow beings; they can tell you far 
better than myself how the ergot has been used for good. In its 
young state it is by no means unfrequent in wet seasons ; generally, 
however, it is overlooked. A really practical paper on it was read 
by a Mr. Watson at the conference of the Cryptogamic Society of 
Scotland, held at Perth in September, 1875, in which the names 
of twenty-one ergotised grasses were given. He considers that cul- 
tivation of land has had something to do with decreasing the 
occurrence of ergot in Scotland, and that if grasses were allowed 
to grow now as they used to do before drainage had so much to 
do in carrying off the water from the land, the cereals would pro- 
duce a great many more ergotised grains than they do now. Still 
there is the fact patent to all those who look into the matter, that 
the Ergot of Rye is of vast importance in the medical world. 
Look too how useful the Vinegar Plant is, and what is it but 
a vegetable produce caused by the growth of the mycelium of a 
fungus (Penicillium crustaceum) in saccharine liquor when not in a 
state of fructification ? 
Then see how essential Fungi are in the making of bread. The 
fermentation of the dough is due to the growing of a fungus, which 
fungus causes the bread to be light and wholesome which otherwise 
it could not be. It is a species of Torula which forms the yeast ; 
it feeds upon the sugar of the flour, the consequence is that carbonic 
acid gas is set free all through the dough. The dough is put into 
the oven, the heat of which is so great that in the process of baking 
the gas is driven off entirely, thus leaving the fungus to be baked, 
its vitality utterly destroyed, and its remains, which of course do 
not come out with the gas, to be eaten as part of the bread. Thus 
every day of our lives we are fungus eaters. 
Yes, Fungi are of more use than we at first think ; unless it were 
