150 EXTRACTS AND ABSTRACTS FROM FOREIGN JOURNALS. 



pathic inflammation ; others, on the contrary, affirm that the inflamma- 

 tion is of a symptomatic character. Opinions are also divided in respect 

 to the transmission of this disease : some contending for its contagious 

 nature, whilst others firmly deny that it is so. 



Muguet shows itself under the form of white patches covering the 

 entire mucous membrane of the mouth, and extending sometimes to the 

 pharynx, oesophagus, stomach, and small intestines. At its commence- 

 ment the disease is characterised by small conical whitish elevations, of 

 0.25 of a millimeter in diameter, dispersed over the buccal mucous mem- 

 brane ; these elevations, in a short time, continue to enlarge, and extend 

 rapidly under the form of a false membrane firmly adhering to the sub- 

 jacent tissue, having a thickness of from two to three millimetres, and 

 covering sometimes the whole extent of the digestive canal. 



A portion of this substance on being submitted to the microscope, 

 shows that it is solely composed of a mass of cryptogamic plants. In 

 order to study the characters of these vegetables, and perceive their re- 

 lations to the tissue on which they grow, it is necessary to examine one 

 of the isolated cones to be found towards the onset of the disease. 

 Each of these cones is composed of a multitude of individuals provided 

 with rootlets, ramifications, and sporules. 



The rootlets are implanted in the cellules of the epithelium ; they 

 are cylindrical, transparent, about the T^th f a millimetre in diame- 

 ter ; in being developed they perforate the entire series of cellules com- 

 posing the epithelium, to arrive at the free surface of the mucous mem- 

 brane. 



The stems growing from the surface of the epithelium are equally 

 transparent, divided at different distances by partitions, and enclosing 

 corpuscules in their interior ; they are cylindrical, straight, of a ^th of 

 a millimetre long, and x^-th f a millimetre in breadth : the stems di- 

 vide into branches or ramifications, which subdividing bifurcate at an 

 acute angle. These ramifications are composed of very distinct oblong 

 cellules, enclosing one, two, or three, round and transparent nuclei ; 

 their lateral parietes present here and there sporules, and their extre- 

 mities particularly, a very great number. The diameter of these spo- 

 rules is from the airo^ 1 to tne siroth f a niillimetre. 



These Cryptogamic plants bear a great analogy to the Sporotrichium, 

 described by several botanists. 



As they are very fragile, they become detached by the movements of 

 the organs of the mouth, and mixing with the food, are carried into the 

 digestive canal where they frequently germinate and cover a considerable 

 surface ; children in whom the extension of this disease is great, fall 

 into a state of marasmus, and generally sink under it. As we have 

 constantly met in this white substance of muguet nothing more but ve- 

 getables and cells of epithelium, and no product of inflammation, we 

 consider it fair to conclude that this disease is produced entirely by the 

 growth of a cryptogamic plant on living mucous membrane. 



These low vegetable forms offer a great analogy to the Mycodermata* 

 of Tinea favosa; but they differ in the following characters : 



* See the figures and Mr. Busk's " Observations on Parasitical Growths on living 

 animals." Microscopic Journal, Vol I, p. 148. 



