86 THE NATURALIST. 



Aug. 13th — Saponaria officinalis, (double variety,) and Scahiosa succisa^ 

 L.J flower. 



„ 14t]i — Lycopus europceus, L. in flower. 



„ 21st — Brimstone Butterfly, Goniapteryx Rhamni, appears, (tlie 

 autumnal brood) Sedum Telephimn, L. flowers. Berries of 

 Pyrus aumparia, ripe. 

 „ 28th. — Berries of Samhucus nigra, L., ripening at this date. 



QUECKETT MiCEOSCOPICAL ClUB. 



At the last meeting of this society, held 

 on Friday, August 24th, Ernest Hart, Esq., 

 president, in the chair, a paper was read 

 by Dr. Tilbury Fox, " On the Yegetable 

 Parasites of living Beings," of no little 

 interest as bearing upon the "blue mist" 

 question of Mr. Glashier.. It has been 

 suggested that the blue mist may be due to 

 the presence in the atmosphere of the 

 spores of low forms of vegetable life. Dr. 

 Fox's paper embraced an account of the 

 iife and influence of minute fungi in 

 general ; showed that the presence of cell 

 structures was to be expected in all situa- 

 tions to which the air has access, their 

 discovery hitherto having been delayed by 

 the absence of observation and the want 

 of a sufficiently high powered microscope. 

 Fungi are especially prevalent at such 

 seasons as the present, in which rusts and 

 mildews have abounded. These germs are 

 very light and can be easily wafted by the 

 air from place to place ; they seem not 

 only to be found in spots accessible to the 

 external air, but also deep in the tissues of 

 living things, being carried upwards bodily 

 by the growing tissues in the same way 

 that particles of charcoal get into the 

 interior of intestinal vessels, running to 

 the liver in ordinary "ringworm" ; the 

 fungi which are the cause of the disease 

 according to Dr. Fox, get into the hair 

 follicle, reach the root and are carried up 

 by the growing shaft into the body of the 



hair. In like way rusts effect an entrance 

 within the leaves of growing plants, but 

 at a very early date, through the first pair 

 of young seedleaves. Fungi never appear 

 to flourish on healthy surfaces. The 

 author entered into the question of their 

 influence in the production of disease. 

 After speaking of " ringworm" in particu- 

 lar he concluded, and this is the inte- 

 resting point in reference to the " blue 

 mist, " that the prevalence or undue amount 

 of microscopic fungi is always coincident 

 with that of epidemic disease, that the 

 two must not be regarded as cause and eff'ect 

 but were both helped out of the same 

 influence. "Whatever debilitates man ren- 

 ders him more liable to epidemic disease, 

 and whatever induces an unhealthy state 

 of vegetation, favours the rapid develop- 

 ment upon it of mildews, rusts, and 

 moulds, but these do not seem to be capable 

 of producing anything like epidemic^oimn. 

 The existence then of the *'blue mist" 

 supposing it to be due to the presence 

 of vegetable germs in abundance, can only 

 be looked upon as a coincidence as regards 

 Cholera. Mr. M. C. Cooke related many 

 instances in proof of Dr. Tilbury Fox's 

 opinion, that the germs of parasites enter 

 the tissues of living plants at a much 

 earlier age than is generally supposed and 

 that fungi will not flourish upon a healthy 

 surface. Several other speakers followed. 

 A second paper was read by Mr. Burgess, 

 on "A New Plan for putting up Microscopic 

 Objects," by which the whole area of large 

 specimens might be exhibited at the same 

 time. 



