in Vegetables by Fungi. 119 



From a consideration of the above-quoted remarks it is therefore 

 evident, that Ehrenberg merely employed the putrid fruit as a nidus 

 favourable for the growth of the fungi ; that he did not inoculate 

 sound fruit ; that he had no suspicion of the real cause of its decay, 

 much less an accurate knowledge of it, as the writer of the paragraph 

 quoted in the commencement of this paper supposed ; and that he 

 has consequently in no way anticipated the observations made by me 

 on the cause of the destruction of fruit, contained in certain papers 

 read before the Microscopical Societ)^ of London. 



Ehrenberg's epistle was undertaken, as its title implies, with a view 

 of ascertaining the modes of reproduction and development of fungi, 

 and for the purpose of disproving the dangerous doctrine of spon- 

 taneous generation ; an endeavour which was eminently successful 

 as regards the tribe of Fungi. 



In the second paper of mine, referred to before, entitled " Obser- 

 vations on a Disease, the production of a Fungus, occurring in the 

 Lettuce and other vegetables," (' Annals' for August 1843,) the fol- 

 lowing observation occurs : — 



" One of the greatest peculiarities of the fungi consists in the pre- 

 ference which they manifest for organic matter in a concentrated 

 form. But it has hitherto been supposed that their powers were con- 

 fined to dead organic matter, which they speedily decompose, assimi- 

 late and remove," &c. 



It was my intention to have added, and I thought that I had done 

 so, after the word dead, " or diseased," and my omitting to do so 

 subjected me to the underwritten remark of the editor : — 



" This statement is by no means coiTcct ; the researches of Ehren- 

 berg, Meyen, and many other physiologists have long since 

 proved the falsity of this now antiquated notion." 

 That the omission of the words " or diseased " was an oversight, 

 and that I was fully acquainted with the fact that fungi were some- 

 times found in the diseased living tissue, may be gathered from the 

 perusal of the opening paragraph of my paper, which, as I wish to 

 exonerate myself from so manifest an imputation of ignorance of a 

 ■well-known fact, I may perhaps be pardoned for quoting : — 



" The production of diseases through the agency of fungi, whether 

 in the animal or vegetable fabric, has not hitherto received that de- 

 gree of attention to which the frequency of their occurrence and the 

 importance of the subject so eminently entitle them." Here then 

 is a distinct admission of the existence of fungi in the diseased li- 

 ving organism. I must confess, however, that until very recently I 

 was not aware that any other experiments were in existence proving 

 the power of fungi to originate diseased action, not merely in the 

 living tissue, but in it when in a perfectly sound condition of vitality, 

 save those made known by me in reference to fruit, flowers and ve- 

 getables. 



I now know, however, that unexceptionable experiments have been 



made to determine this point by Bassi and Audouin"*, who produced 



* Rapport sur divers^travaux entrepris au sujet de la maladie des Vers 



