44 MICROBES, FERMENTS, AND MOULDS. 



easily assimilate ; linen ; and even our toilet sponges, 

 notwithstanding that they are in daily use. They 

 may even be found on the most powerful chemical 

 substances, on pastilles of sulphur, arsenical solu- 

 tions, etc. 



" The general belief," writes Roumeguere, "regards 

 fungi as the result of decomposition. This belief is 

 due to an imperfect acquaintance with the nature of 

 these plants. Fungi are not only found on fragments 

 of wood and decayed vegetables, but sometimes even 

 on bare pebbles, on glass, on window-panes, on the 

 lenses of microscopes, and on other polished surfaces. 

 It must be supposed that fungi are able to extract 

 the elements of nutrition even in such positions. 

 Coprins, which have a surprising power of develop- 

 ment, grow on amputated limbs. Young has recorded 

 the appearance of a great number of these fungi, still 

 in an imperfectly developed state, below the mattress 

 on which a man was lying whose leg had been ampu- 

 tated. The bed was cleaned, and in nine or ten days 

 the fungus reappeared in the same abundance as 

 before. Targionni-Tozetti had previously observed a 

 similar growth on the apparatus which surrounded a 

 fractured limb in St. George's Hospital, Modena." 



Berkeley states that immediately after the death 

 of any vegetable substance, an army of fungi of 

 various kinds is at hand to complete the work of 

 decomposition. The soft tissues are rapidly reduced 

 to a semi-fluid condition by the combined action of 



