270 FOOTNOTES FROM 



common, although diffused in greater or less abundance 

 throughout the whole of Great Britain ; but in the zone 

 where rye is the prevailing grain, comprehending all the 

 countries bordering on the Baltic, the north of Germany, 

 and part of Siberia, it occurs in great abundance, and is 

 often a cause of much distress. It is owing to the growth 

 of a fungus called Spermoedia clavus, which converts the 

 ovary of the grain into an elongated cylindrical excrescence, 

 a little curved, and somewhat resembling a horn or spur 

 projecting from the chaff, and hence the rye thus affected 

 is called in common language spurred-rye. The grain when 

 attacked becomes first soft and pulpy, afterwards it hard- 

 ens and elongates gradually. It is first of a red or violet 

 colour, afterwards lead-coloured, and finally black with a 

 white interior. Generally only two or three grains in a 

 spike are affected, whose nutritious part is thus completely 

 destroyed, and converted into a highly injurious substance. 

 When rye is extensively cultivated, grains thus diseased 

 often compose a considerable part of the bread produced, 

 and thus not unfrequently give rise to one of the most 

 fearful and distressing diseases with which the human 

 frame is affected. Those who live upon it are afflicted 

 with general weakness, and a sense as if insects were 

 creeping over the skin, then the extremities become cold 

 and insensible ; next, excruciating pains are felt ; and, 

 lastly, there is dry gangrene, and the fingers and toes 

 drop off. Strange to say, however, the children in some 

 parts of the north of Europe eat with impunity immense 

 quantities of this diseased rye, under the name of St. 

 John's Bread. This is an extraordinary instance of the 

 uncertain effects of the same species of fungi upon the 



