The Fungus Foot of India. 257 



introduced through some scratch, even were it impossible for 

 them to penetrate by the pores of the skin. When once intro- 

 duced beneath the cuticle a single spore might soon perform 

 the work of destruction spreading in every direction, and accord- 

 ing to the peculiar condition of the secretions, the mycelium 

 might put on a hundred different modes of growth. Besides, 

 if the fungus is capable of causing the absorption of solid struc- 

 tures like bone, it is easy to conceive that a spore in contact for 

 some time with a moist foot might penetrate the cuticle simply by 

 absorption. Cleanliness in the first instance seems to be a pre- 

 ventive, but when the fungus is once established, there seems to 

 be no cure save amputation — which, happily, when resorted to in 

 time appears to be completely successful, as the disease never 

 spreads beyond a certain point, though, if it be allowed to take 

 its course, death will ensue from the exhaustion consequent on 

 pain and the continuous discharge. 



In some cases it would seem as if the foot was already in a 

 diseased state when the fungus was introduced. At least the 

 history of one case which apparently commenced with a boil on 

 the instep, which was treated by native doctors, a thorn being- 

 used several times as a lancet, indicates such a lesion as might 

 well encourage the growth of a fatal parasite. 



Explanation op the Plate, p. 256. — b a single cell magni- 

 fied which has been freed from the coat of stearine by immer- 

 sion in pure sulphuric ether ; c a budding cell similarly treated ; 

 d the red fungus, Ohionyjplie Carteri, springing from particles 

 of the black fungus scattered over rice paste ; e a portion of 

 the same magnified, showing the sporangia in different stages 

 of growth, from their first origin to the dispersion of the spores, 

 and some of the latter o'erminatins 1 . 



