The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1854-04-04
LIFE WITHIN LIFE.


and within bodies vegetable and animal
The discovery of the existence of whole
plantations of algG in the human mouth, has
been succeeded by a number of curious de-
velopments brought out by prying savans,
who have been applying their magnifying
glasses to all sorts of bodies and in all kinds
of ont of the way places. LIFE ~fthn
Life" has manifested itself almost every
where. Think of a delicate and beautiful
young lady having a mouth thick set with
acres Of parasital plants of the same family
with sea weedsl who would believe it? yet
you have only to apply the microscope and
be convinced r. .1s1r-- e..-
DIR. JosEpH LEIDY, Of Philadelphia, has
been amongst the most successful of explo-
rers after these infinitisemal phases of exist
ence. The vegetable parasites are divided
| into epiphytes and entophytes, or outside and
inside plants; and the animalcul9 which
generally choose the inside of other animals
for their habitation are called ent0coa. 1t is
one of the entophytes tthe uredo foetidal
which produces the disease of pepper brand,
| or mildeac or rust in wheat, known to the
| Romans as Rubigo from its red or rusty hue
| 1t preys like true parasite upon the heart,
| and shews itself upon the surface when the
spores are ripe, and ready to be dispersed
| for further mischief This disease was
known to the Hebrews, the Greeks, and the
Romans. BY the latter especially, it was
greatly dreaded, and they dignifed it with
a notice in their religious rites, whereby they
| hoped to avert it. Sacrifices were offered
| up and prayers uttered, which were followed
by games They are noticed by both Ho-
race and Ovid The following is an Eng
lish translation of the prayer offered by the
priest to the presiding deity:
20. bghting Rubigo spare the corn plant,
| And let the ear wave gently o'er the face of the
earth; e.-.- f-.-
Suffer the crops which have been nourished by the
propitious
Stars of Heaven, to grow until they become fit for
Thine is small power; the crops thou hast marked
The dispirited cultvator reckons as lost
Neither winds or showers 80 much injure the corn;
Neither when bitten by the frost does it acquire hue
pallid,
Then, OH dread goddess is the opportunity for thy
wrath. ..-g. ..f
Be mercfu pray, and withhold your rusting hands
Nor harm the cultivated land; it is sufficient to be
able to do harm"
1t is indeed sufficientto to be able to do harm;
but the goddess sought to be prOpitiated did
| not concur in the idea. She continued to put
| forth her rusting hands,, and does so to the
present day.
Science has probed the mystery-at least
so far as to find out its locality, appearance,
and progress but a remedy has not been
| discovered. Other parasites attack the
| leaves of trees, the fruits and the flowers.
singing out the redest peaches and the roses
of deepest blush, to the dismay of tie gar
dener, who sees his produce and his hopes
blighted. 1t is one of the same family that
has fastened upon the grapes of the CONT
| nent of late years, under the name of odium.
At times they make white fairy rings on
| cabbage leaves, cover the stalks of onions
with velvety meal, and put grey web
about peas.
| The animal parasites are more numerous
and as they come somewhat nearer home to
| us, more interesting. Strange creatures they
are! These tiny beings need different ha-
| bitation for every stage and as close as they
are watched it has as yet been impossible to
follow them thoroughly. Now, they are
found in one organ, now in another now in
the viscera, and now in the veins. In some
/ instances they leave one animal and inhabit
another, before their developments can be
continued.
Numerous tribes are met with in the intes
| tines of cockroaches, beetles, and other in
sects. DIR. LEIDY has discovered that spe.
| cies of gordius fnfests the grasshoppers OF
the fields near Philadelphia. The number of
| gordi, in grasshopper are from one to five,
| from three inches to foot in length. They
lie coiled up in the viscera, and often extend
| from the lower part of the abdomen through
| the thorax into the head-sometimes being
heavier than all the soft parts and even mus
| cIes of their living habitation.
| The gordius or hair-worm is vulgarly sup
posed to be transformed horse-hai 1t ap
pears in brooks and creeks in summer and
| autumn. No one has ascertained tsi origin
The female deposites millions of eggs in the
water. and in three weeks the embryos es
| cape from tIlc eSSo totaiiy uiioiOhI HoH
their parents, their bodies being 1-45Oth part
| of an inch long.
The grasshoppers appear to be little trou
bled by their parasites, and when they die
the worms creep from their bodies and disap
| pear in the earth.
1t appears from recent discovery, that mos1
Of the cryptogamia-ferns, MOSES and alga
actually possess sexual elements, and DR.
LEIDY thinks it not improbable that they
may be discovered even in the fungi!
| Thirty nine species of ento=oa infest the
bodies of human beings! They are found
| in the eye inthe bronchial glands, in the kid
| neys, liver, gall, bladder. and in the muscles
and venous blood, as well as the yiscera-
| different species being peculiar to the differ.
| ent organs.
3 OF entophyta isubsisting within the hu
| man body there are known to be ten species
| also peculiar to certain parts. The sarcina