The action of fungi in the production of disease / by Tilbury Fox.

  • Fox, William Tilbury, 1836-1879.
Date:
MDCCCLXVI [1866]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The action of fungi in the production of disease / by Tilbury Fox. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

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    human surface; how get they deeply into the tissues ? In various ways probably. Let us take a general sketch. The greater the degree of moisture and heat, the better is the chance of entree. First of all, the fungus elements may enter by fissures or natural orifices; for example, in ordinary ringworm the sporules lodge themselves at the opening of the hair follicles, and presently get beneath the epithelial scales. We shall see, directly, how. A great many experiments have been made at different times, upon this point, in the case of plants. De Bary (Die gegenwartig herrschende Kartoffelkrankheit, ihre ursache und ihre Verhutung : Leipsic, 1861), found that, in terminal filaments of potato mould, so-called zoospores were formed, which bud, protrude filaments forming a mycelium which has the power u of penetrating the cellular tissue in twelve hours, and when established there it bursts through the stomata of the leaves.” This u boring ” operation is quite likely to occur, especially where the structures are diseased; as, for example, the muscardine in silkworm, in diseased mucous surfaces or epithelial changes: here the entrance by continuity is easily accomplished by the growing filament. It has been supposed that mycelium may get within the shaft of the hair in some part of its course, in this way. I do not believe it. If a fungus finds an entrance, it is either through a cut end, a distinct fracture, or, what is usually the case, the soft growing root. A good deal of doubt has been expressed as to whether the spores could find their way into the interior of plants through the stomata. It seems pretty clear that the latter are not sufficiently large for the occurrence. There can be no question, however, that, in a large number of instances, the spores send out little processes, which get into the plant through the stomata. Here the recent experiments of De Bary help us again. They are noticed by Mr Cooke in his admirable popular work on microscopic fungi. This observer took a large number of common garden cress plants, placed their roots in water containing zoospores, and though the former became covered with these latter bodies, yet not a jot of evidence of penetration occurred. De Bary, however, found that if the cotyledons or seed-leaves are watered with fluid containing zoo- spores, that slender tubes put out by the zoospores enter the stomata, the terminal ends enlarge, branch out, and become the centres from which a ramifying mycelium is produced, which presently shows itself externally. De Bary tested 105 plants in like manner and under similar circumstances, with water free from zoospores, and without the production of any sign of rust in these. De Bary con- cludes that plants are not infected by spores entering through the roots or leaves, but through the medium of the seed leaves of coty- ledons. But it is probable that the fluid contents of the spore cells may be absorbed and give rise to disease. The Kev. Mr Berkeley, several years ago, found that the germs of bunt placed in contact with seeds, infected them, without there being any evidence to show that any spore or mycelial thread had effected an entrance. It