122 VEGETABLE PAKASITES. 



matter from a cholera patient (the so-called " cholera fungi 3f of 

 Swayne, Brittan, and Budd, which they found in the stools and 

 vomited matter of cholera patients, and which the latter found in the 

 water and the air of the affected place, seems to be nothing more 

 than the ferment-alga, as has been pointed out by Baly and Gull, 

 Griffith, Bennett, Robertson, Robin, and others 1 ) ; Vogel, Ilmoni, 

 and others, found this fungus in diabetic urine, and also in the 

 urine of patients affected with scarlet fever. Thus showing that 

 sugar was not necessary for the production of this fungus. Hera- 

 path and Quain also found it in the urine of cholera patients. 



The development of this plant goes on very rapidly when it is 

 in contact with decomposing substances, or liquid acids at a 

 favorable temperature, as in the intestinal canal. But in all 



1 [Many other bodies besides the spores of Cryptococcus were regarded as cholera 

 fungi. The following observations were made at the time of the discussion of this sub- 

 ject by Professor Busk, who was then president of the Microscopical Society of London, 

 at one of the evening meetings of the Society. He stated that he should confine his 

 attention to the papers of Dr. William Budd, Dr. Brittan, and Dr. Swayne, each of 

 whom had written papers and given drawings of bodies which they supposed to be fungi. 

 In the first place, he remarked that amongst the varied bodies figured by these gentle- 

 men there was only one set that bore so strong a resemblance to each other as to claim 

 anything like a common character. With regard to the figured bodies from air and 

 water they were not definite enough to yield any possibility of classing them with one 

 body or another. With regard to the more definite bodies figured by Drs. Budd, 

 Brittan, and Swayne, and found in their preparations, he had with one exception found 

 these in the matter passed by cholera patients on board the Dreadnought. These 

 bodies, which were described as fungi, were of three different kinds. First, there existed 

 a cellular body, which was more particularly figured by Dr. Swayne, and existed in two 

 of his preparations, one in the possession of Dr. Lankester and the other in his own, 

 which evidently exhibited the characters of the spore of a uredo, and on examination 

 of some specimens of uredo from a loaf of bread bought at a baker's, it was found to 

 correspond precisely with the spore of the cholera patient. As this species of fungus 

 was very common in bread that had been kept and easily resisted the digestive action of 

 the stomach, the presence of it in a few cases was well accounted for. The second class 

 of bodies, and which under a high magnifying power, with a bad light, looked exceedingly 

 like the last, consisted of small portions of the inner membrane of the grain of wheat. 

 In the coarser kinds of flour this membrane was not separated, and he had no doubt 

 that these bodies were introduced with the bread eaten as food. A third form of these 

 more definite bodies was evidently due to the presence of undigested starch-granules. 

 Drawings of all these bodies were exhibited, and their strong resemblance to the bodies 

 figured by the Bristol observers was at once recognised. In conclusion, the author 

 stated that he did not wish to pronounce an opinion that the existence of a vegetable 

 organism as the cause of cholera was impossible, but from the observations he had now 

 laid before the Society, he considered that such a cause in the production of cholera had 

 certainly not yet been demonstrated. (Daily News, Oct. 19th, 1849.)] TRANS. 



