FUNGI. 353 
finds in no other locality, but reverting to its original 
form when the supply of this peculiar pabulum is 
exhausted. And as if to establish this conclusion 
beyond question, it has since been found in pre- 
cisely the same form as in the stomach, in cases of 
parasitic skin disease. 
Professor Lister has demonstrated that the 
lamentable mortality which so frequently attends 
surgical operations, and the deadly consequences 
of wounds and injuries in great hospitals, are owing 
to the devélopment and multiplication of fungoid 
growth. Several French surgeons narrate cases in 
which, on removing bandages from ulcerated and 
mucous surfaces, they have found them covered 
with a collection of white flocculent filaments, evi- 
dently the undeveloped spawn or mycelium of 
some fungus. The connexion between erysipelas 
and hospital gangrene and the theory of fungoid 
germs, ought therefore to lead to the most scrupu- 
lous cleanliness in conducting surgical operations. 
The surgeon who will save most lives will be he 
who adopts the antiseptic method of treatment, 
and carefully guards against the introduction of 
fungoid germs by the thorough purification of his 
hands, instruments, and all the appliances he uses. 
Besides the mycodermata and mortification of 
wounds, several other diseases incident to man 
are of fungoid origin. There is a curious endemic 
Zz 
