544 
NOTE ON THE RINGWORM FUNGUS. 
were kept in contact with the arm by means of bandage, &c., 
until the 21st, when the dressing was removed and the same 
hairs carefully replaced and rebandaged to the arm. On the 
24th, the whole was removed. Nothing more was noticed 
till November 11th (nineteen days after the infected hairs 
had been removed), except occasionally a little itching in the 
part ; at the above date, I noticed at the seat of the experi- 
ment a small circular reddened and slightly raised patch of 
skin ; it w r as slightly rough. When first noticed, it was a 
a little larger than a split pea. 
On the 15th, it was nearly as large as a sixpence; its 
centre was at that date covered with dry half-separated scales 
of epidermis, its margins being red and slightly raised above 
the surrounding surface. The itching had increased. On 
the 21 st, the circle was as large as a shilling. On examining 
some of, the scurf with the microscope, I found the epidermis 
crowded with fungus, both mycelium and spores being pre- 
sent ; the spores had invaded the roots of one or two hairs 
to a slight extent ; I did not see any broken hairs. 
On comparing the mycelium and spores from a case of 
ringworm in a calf with the fungus from the same disease 
in the human subject, I was unable to detect any material 
difference in size or structure between them, and one speci- 
men might, as regards the fungus, have been easily mistaken 
for the other. 
As regards the naked- eye characters of the ringworm 
patches, there seem to be no differences between the bovine 
and the human disease, excepting such as we should expect 
to find from the closeness of the hairs, and abundance of 
loose epidermis and fatty secretion on the skin of the calf 
as compared with that of the human scalp and body. The 
changes in the affected hairs are also precisely the same in 
the two cases ; when invaded by the fungus they become 
brittle, and soon break up at a short distance from the sur- 
face, leaving jagged besom-like ends. 
It may be of interest to note that out of a considerable 
number of calves examined for ringworm, the only ones 
affected were English ; in no case did I find a Dutch calf 
showing any signs of the disease. This was noticed at the 
examination of several different batches of calves on different 
days. Perhaps the fact is well known to and can be easily 
explained by some reader of the Veterinarian. 
[The transference of ringworm from the lower animals to 
man is by no means a rare occcurrence. In the Infirmary 
of the Royal Veterinary College a groom who has had the 
charge of a horse the subject of this disease has not unfre 
