THE ERGOT OF RYE, ETC. 
123 
organs;" and lastly, he sums up by considering the "ergot as 
being the reproductive apparatus of a fungus." Philippar's 
reason for considering it a fungus arises principally from the 
microscopic examination of the structure of the ergot, which, 
as a fungus, he describes, beginning in the receptacle of the 
flower, and lifting up the sexual organs, which are diseased, 
but still remain upon the apex of the ergot, as in fig. 4; but it 
is found that where the paleas are attached, and also the two 
scales, that this part which must be receptacle also, is not dis- 
eased, for these organs remain undisturbed; consequently it can 
only be the point where the grain and the receptacle unite 
that could give origin to any body taking the position of the 
ergot. Yet from this point, which is inseparable from the 
grain in the young state, it is most singular that in every kind 
of grass yet found ergotized, that the fungus should always 
burst through the tissue at this particular point, and at that par- 
ticular time when the flower is about to expand. If it be a 
fungus solely, it ought certainly to burst forth as an ergot from 
the stem, or some other place on the several grasses, besides 
growing between and parting asunder two organs, which were 
as firmly united to each other in the young state, as the paleae 
or glumes are to the same axis. Beside, the ergot, when ma- 
tured like the ripe grain, slips out of the paleae like a ripe fil- 
bert from its cupule, showing it has no organic connexion at 
this period with the receptacle more than the grain had. Phi- 
Hppar's examination of the internal part seemed especially to 
strengthen his view of its being a fungus; for he describes the 
body of the ergot to be composed internally of branched short 
fibres, and globules of various sizes, round and oval, which he 
considered the means of its reproduction. My own observa- 
tions on the structure of the ergot differ somewhat from this, 
by believing that the fibres described are the boundaries of 
irregular cells, distorted by the fungoid matter, and not fibres 
at all; and the globules are not reproductive bodies, but those 
of a fatty oil which is contained in the interior of the cells, as 
seen fig. 7, in a transverse section magnified 1000 times. To 
witness these facts, take an ergot, scrape away with a knife all 
