THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 349 



which, by their subsequent growth, prove to be germs of 

 fungi. It seems to me, therefore, highly probable that, 

 under certain conditions, it is these oleo-albuminoid 

 globules, already in existence, which in consequence 

 of some internal changes are impelled to develop, like 

 ordinary milk-globules, into Fungus-germs 1 . 



This view derives additional support from the fact 

 that, on other occasions, Fungus-growths of various kinds 

 have been found, in different kinds of animals, in in- 

 ternal cavities of the body which are wholly closed 

 just as they have also been found within similar cavi- 

 ties occurring in the fruit of many plants. The 

 Rev. M. J. Berkeley says 2 : c The strongest case I 



1 In accordance with the more generally received hypothesis, however, 

 we should be required to believe that the fungi in the different diseases 

 were specifically distinct, and that spores of the different varieties were 

 so uniformly diffused through the atmosphere as to be always ready to 

 infect any suitable nidus. The difficulties of this hypothesis were felt 

 by the Rev. M. J. Berkeley, who accordingly wrote in his * Introduction 

 to Cryptogamic Botany ' the following passage : ' It is true that in 

 many cases the fungi may be of very common kinds, or under disguised 

 forms ; but this is what might readily be supposed, for it is very rarely 

 the case that such peculiar matrices as the human skin or mucous mem- 

 brane should nourish fungi absolutely peculiar to themselves. It is in 

 such cases far more easy to believe that the common Penicillin, or Asper- 

 gilli, which are notoriously indifferent about their matrix, provided the 

 proper chemical conditions be satisfied, are the real antagonists '(p. 238). 

 This view was afterwards ably taken up by Dr. John Lowe and Dr. Til- 

 bury Fox, who endeavoured, with considerable success, to demonstrate 

 the convertibility of the several forms of fungi met with in skin-diseases, 

 and their relationship to the forms above mentioned. This was decidedly 

 a step in the right direction. 



2 Loc. cit, p. 260. 



