92 
Journal of Mycology 
[Vol. 10 
Vegetable Life. — An epitome of the known processes of 
life and growth of our common plants, and their minute struc¬ 
ture may serve as a basis for brief explanation of the structure 
and mode of life of the Fungi. The herbs, shrubs and trees de¬ 
velop roots in the soil which terminate in minute fibrils that push 
out between the finer particles of which the soil is composed- 
These tiny rootlets have near their tips, during the growing 
season, an abundance of slender tube-like outgrowths, called 
root-hairs. These delicate elongated cells, as such structures are 
called, apply themselves closely to the soil particles and absorb 
the thin layer of adhering moisture. This moisture or water has 
passed previously through the atmosphere—falling as rain or 
water on the surface, then slowly percolating through the soil, dis¬ 
solving very small quantities of triturated rock (for that is what 
soil mainly consists of) and some of the partially decomposed 
organic matter that may also be present. Water is not a good 
solvent for granite and marble, nor even for the softer limestone, 
but its disintegrating power is greatly increased by the carbon 
dioxide and traces of other gases it absorbs in passing through 
the air, but especially by the larger quantity of these substances, 
together with various alkalis which it takes up in percolating 
through the soil. It therefore happens that ample food materials 
for our common plants is held in dilute solution in this thin layer 
of moisture which the root-hairs seek and abstract from the 
soil particles. The root-hairs — like all other ordinary living 
vegetable cells — consist of an active, more or less granular but 
nearly transparent substance, in consistency somewhat like thin 
jelly, detected but little over half a century ago and given the 
narrfe of pro'-to-plasm. It is this —the physical basis of ‘life’ as 
interpreted to-day — which does the work of absorption — pull¬ 
ing the water-particles away from the attracting soil particles 
and appropriating the booty for its own use. The cell ‘wall,’ 
or tube (covering) referred to above, is permeable to liquids 
allowing the water to pass readily. Whether this absorptive 
power of the protoplasm is referable simply to the physical pro¬ 
cess called ‘osmosis’ need not concern us here — it is exhibited 
at any rate only in the living protoplasm. The roots, stems and 
leaves are made up exclusively of cells — that is, tiny masses 
of protoplasm with a delicate covering or wall (the material of 
which is cellulose) which are joined to one another to make the 
firm plant body. Moreover the cells have taken on various 
shapes, round, angular, elongated, etc., and some of the walls 
become much thickened, often hard, and thus the plant body is 
complex in structure — though in the very early stages of its 
development it was comparatively simple. Now, the water, 
which contains the food-material in solution, passes from cell to 
cell — through the walls and through the protoplasm, reaching 
