242 TKANSACTIOXS AND PEOCEEDIXGS OF THE [Sess. lxiv. 



In conclusion, I wish to say that botanical problems, 

 such as those of the life history of a fungus, can only 

 be worked out by botanical specialists. Physiologists 

 are, as a rule, microscopists rather than naturalists, and 

 medical men direct their attention mainly to the treatment 

 of disease, not to the life histories of plants. 



There is little left to do in systematic botany, but 

 the botanical student has before him boundless fields 

 in the study of the life histories of alg;e and fungi, 

 and for the good of humanity no problem is at present 

 more pressing than an inquiry into the life history of 

 the plague microbe. 



We know that Puccinia Graminis of wheat corresponds 

 to u.^cidium Bcrhcridis of the barberry, but we do not 

 know what corresponds to the short-lived microbe which 

 was discovered by Kitasato. 



I do not think that the views I hold are disproved 

 by the experiments of Professor Hankin at Bombay. 

 That gentleman has proved, by repeated and careful 

 experiments, that if the germs of plague are placed 

 among grain, they disappear in a few days. Tlie 

 same thing occurs in many cases where there is un- 

 doubtedly a long life-history. Before affecting the grain, 

 the germs may have to pass through one or more inter- 

 mediate stages. 



I would explain the history of the outbreak of plague at 

 Bombay in the following way : — 



Bombay had been free from plague for centuries, but 

 when an abundant supply of pure water was brought into 

 the town from a distance without any compensatory system 

 of drainage being instituted, the soil of the town became 

 water-logged. Drainage was naturally very difficult, as 

 most of the town is at the sea-level. 'I'he soil being water- 

 logged the cereal grains, especially the millets, stored in 

 the granaries became damp, and the plague fungus attacked 

 the stored grains. 



I would account for the fact, that the natives suffered 

 much and the Europeans suffered little, by connecting this 

 with another fact, which is that of the cereals : Europeans 

 eat only wheat, and natives eat chiefly millet, so that it 

 is perfectly analogous to what I saw in the Himalayas, 



