DIPHTHERIA FUNGUS. 289 
PEE sDIPETHE BRIA. FUNGUS.* 
; : BY THE REV. J. E. VIZE, M.A. 
I wish to direct attention to a fungus doing its deadly work not 
in the vegetable but in the animal kingdom, namely, diphtheria, which 
certainly is fungoid, and belongs to an ally of Peronospora, namely Oidium, 
under the order Mucedines. It might possibly be thought strange 
that I, a parish priest, should be arrogant enough to refer to a subject 
which certainly would far more readily and easily be treated by some one 
in the medical profession. But sometimes this disease comes so near 
to one whose work is not medical that we must attend to it whether 
we like it or not. Such has been my duty lately, for my parish has 
had diphtheria in it since last October, and the National Schools have 
been closed for several weeks and are likely to be for some time. There 
have been several deaths amongst the children, although the great 
majority of the attacks have been light. Those light attacks seem to be 
really the most subtle and dangerous, because the sufferers are not 
isolated and are therefore liable to spread the disease. It should not 
be forgotten that, generally speaking, the first outbreaks are light; and 
why? Speaking not from a medical but from a botanical point of view, 
the answer is very easy. The fresher the spore, (the seed,) the more 
vigorous it is. Hence, if an attack comes from an enfeebled spore, the 
virulence of the growth is quite weak compared with that from a spore 
recently communicated from a patient. 
When the medical officer, Dr. Thursfield, called upon me to urge 
the closing of the schools, we became mutually interested in the 
diphtheria question, and the doctor urged me very strongly to investigate 
the diphtheria Oidium. It was arranged that some of the diphtheria 
fungus should be sent to me, and this was done with every possible 
measure of precaution to avoid the risk of contagion. Having received 
the fungus, I mounted some for microscopical examination, and then 
found that the specimens showed unmistakably an Oidium growth. In 
the manipulation of the slides every precaution was taken to prevent the 
escape of even a fragment of thefungus. And here I would point out the 
great importance of precautionary measures whenever diphtheria breaks 
out. I would particularly urge the burying or burning of all linen used 
by an infected person; for a frightful source of the spread of diphtheria 
is the use of pocket handkerchiefs, &c., which, even after washing in 
cold water, might still contain the spores of Oidiwm—and these are the 
germs of the diphtheria fungus. As a rule these germs are only the 
elementary states of higher fungi; for various species of Oidium develop 
into different kinds of blight. It was to find out the more highly 
developed fungus of the Oidiwm of diphtheria that I have run the risk of 
having it sent to me; and if I or my co-workers could discover this, we 
* Part of a lecture delivered at Chester, January 30th, 1879. 
RR 
