334 Transactions of the Society. 



With the exception of the ringworm spores, and any accidentally 

 admitted with them into the cell, adventitious fungi can only enter 

 from the margin, where they can be easily detected and removed. 



In control experiments with healthy hairs no fungoid growth 

 at all took place, and many specimens remained absolutely 

 barren, while in others a few stellate masses of PeniciUmm and 

 Aspergillus made their appearance at the marojin. When a portion 

 of a ringworm hair crowded with characteristic spores was placed in 

 the incubator, the mycelial growth sprouted luxuriantly from all 

 parts of its surface and soon formed the dense network described. 

 Isolated spores when scraped from a typical ringworm hair (first 

 proved microscopically) germinated and grew in the same way as 

 those attached to the hair. The figures of this commencing 

 growth will be seen to agree with those of Grawitz, Atkinson, and 

 Thin. It is only in the further development of the fungus that 

 our results are difi'erent to these authors. In nearly all our culti- 

 vations the temperature of the incubator was maintained at aliout 

 23'^ to 24^ C, the growth of the ringworm spores being sufficiently 

 free and the stages of development somewhat j)rolonged so as to 

 allow more easy observation. 



Though the fungus germinated at from 35° to 38° C, the 

 greater number of the preparations were spoiled by the development 

 of bacteria. The premature drying up of the jelly led us after 

 several trials to fix the limit of heat at 24"^ G. When the 

 temperature feU below 10° C, the growth of filaments ceased and 

 no fresh spores germinated. 



Some of the experiments of previous observers for the object of 

 comparison : — 



1. Neumann, about 1871. 



2. Grawitz, in 1877. 



3. Atkinson, in 1878. 



4. Thin, in 1881. 



Neumann* used the following method. On a glass slide were 

 cemented two parallel slips of glass, on which was laid a cover-glass 

 with a drop of nutrient material on its under surface. The cover- 

 glass, as well as the shde, was moistened with pure water. The 

 objects to be cultivated were placed close by or on the surface of 

 the nutrient material. To purify the cover-glass and slide, they 

 were washed carefully, rubbed dry \Aith writing paper, and finally 

 bathed in ether and alcohol. 



As media, Neumann used egg-albumen alone, or in combination 

 with sugar of milk, with or without tartrate of ammonia ; tartrate 

 of ammonia and sugar of milk ; also paste, starch, phosphate of 



* Arch. f. Dermatol, u. Syph., 1871. ' Lehrbuch der Hautkrankheiten,' 

 1871. 



