280 THE NORTHERN MICROSCOPIST, 
for them many a blessing we now have would be withheld from 
us. : 
But whilst thus we speak of their uses, it cannot be denied that 
there are many instances in which great injury is done by them. 
Smut is very often found in fields of corn, although in the present 
day it would seem that its growth has by artificial means been 
greatly checked as compared with years gone by. It takes an early 
period for the destruction of the good properties of the cereals, and 
thoroughly neutralizes the true qualities of the ear. Bunt does the 
same, differing however from smut, inasmuch as its presence is not 
so easily ascertained ; the ear of corn looks much the same at first 
as though it were not attacked, but squeeze the ear between your 
fingers and the fcetid smell will quickly prove what you have 
been touching. A microscopical examination will soon show other 
varieties. 
Human beings suffer occasionally from the attacks of Fungi. 
There is a disease from which the natives of India sometimes 
suffer called the fungus foot of India. Strange to say, the disease 
never ascends higher than the base of the leg bone, just above the 
ankle. Mr. Berkeley has given an excellent paper on this malady 
in the “Intellectual Observer” of 1862. The first case he men- 
tions is one in which the bones are “ perforated in every direction 
with roundish cavities varying in size from that of a pea to that of 
a nut or pistol bullet, the cavities being filled up with a dense 
fungus mass of a sienna red within but externally black, resembling 
a small dark truffle. From these cavities, canals lead to the surface, - 
from which a purulent fcetid discharge is poured out, often accom- 
panied by little pieces of the fungus.” It is needless to say that in 
cases of this kind amputation is necessary to save life, and that the 
disease must necessarily be of a most painful kind. Two other 
kinds of foot fungus are recorded by Mr. Berkeley in the same 
paper. 
In our own country there is a disease to which we are all liable, 
and which is emphatically a fungus; one which causes a good deal 
of unpleasantness rather than pain, and which isolates people who 
have it considerably. I meanring-worm. Ring-worm isa fungus ; 
it has its mycelium and filaments, and bears its spores. These 
spores are very minute and are easily conveyed through space. 
Hence the probability of getting the disease arises from the spores 
being deposited on some suitable place for growth, when they will 
vegetate and grow. Whether the spores would develope when the 
skin is perfectly healthy, or whether some weakening cause be 
needful it is not for me to examine. Nor need we ask here whether 
the ring-worm is the result of disease arising from the epidermal 
structure being out of order, or whether one’s system is not braced 
up to its usual strength, and so the constitution is predisposed to 
