The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1860-11-06
SOMETHING ABOUT THE FUNGUS FAMILl

SOMETHING ABOUT THE FUNGUS FAMILY.
The fungus is a kindly friend, fearful foe We
like him a mushroom. We dread him as the
dry-rot. He may be preying on your roses or eat
ing through the ccrks of your claret. He may get
into your corntield. A fungus has eaten up the
vine in Madeira, the potatoe in Ireland. fungus
NAV creep through your castle, and leave 1t dust.
A fungus may banquet on your fleets, and bury the
payment of its feast in lime. Fungi are most at
home upon boles of old trees, logs of wood, naked
walls, pestilential wastes, old damp carpets, and
other such things as men cast out from their own
homes.
In addition to such congenial places as these, we
find fungi where no one would have expected them;
as on our window paues and the lenses OF micro
scopes and even on smooth metallic surfaces. Not
many wears ago it was decided saying, even
amongst men of some pretensions that tungl could
not grow upon healthy substances; it is, however,
now sufficiently established that the most healthy
tissues may be affected by them so as rapidly, un-
der their influence, to become diseased. They are
not uncommon on the dressings OF amputed limbs.
and have led to ill grounded charges of chrurgcal
negligence: and it is singular that they capable
of growth in substances which are, in general, de-
structve of vegetables, such as tannin, and many
species prefer spent tan TO almost any other SUB
stance More than one species of fungus is devel-
oped on extracted opium, and the factories in India
have greatly suffered from their presence.
Rapidity of growth as well as locality is very re-
markable in certain species. Fungous mould will
sometimes appear in the inside of bread few hours
with the coarse "pan de muniton" or barrack
bread at Paris, in which beautiful red mould ap
peared in an incredibly short time. 1t was found
upon examination that the spores reproductive
cells) of certain fungi would endure moist heat
equal to that of boiling water without parting with
their power of termination. Perhaps the most
curious habitat of fungus was that discovered in
America by Schweinitz viz piece of iron which
had been red hot only a few hours before
No depth that man can descend to seems too deep
for these plants and we, ourselves have discovered
a luxuriant crop of them fifteen hundred feet under
ground, in one of the deepest coal-mines. No
heipht that man can ascend to seems too high Tor
them and they appear in due and different orders
in the Kissing bot valleys towards the base of the
Sikkim Himalayas, while higher up are sub-tropI
cal Species and you ascend, multtudes OF species
identical with, closely allied to, northern Euro
pean species; nor do they cease until they reach
sion of the too famous Dry-rot are known to every
body. In fir-but ships it is the species of fungus
named Merulius lacrymdns while in oak-built ship:
it is the Polyporus hybridus. Instances hav'
occurred in which dry-rot has penetrated soilt
structures of brick. 1t is curious that th
spawn of this fungus often elude and dety
the articles and skill of the most sagaclou:
human being. 1t can eat out the heart OF his snip
and the foundation Of his houses. This almost In
tapribe product of one of the lower orders OF vege
tation can silently render most fragile what wa
once most solid, sap the very floor on whlci
man stands the very table round which he gather
his family and friends, and the very couch OF
which he reposes While he sleeps it grows; Will
he rests it advances; while he is at peace with al
the world it may be at war with him; and Will
his sswooden walls" are calmly riding at anchor
unless he has taken all due precautions, and EN-
ployed approved preventatives, this despicabl
fungus will prove itself secret foe, more formida
BILE perhaps, than the open hostile array of
mighty nation.
AformidabIe host of fungous foes is known unde
the general names of Smut, Bunt, Nildew,. Rus
and Ergot, and the more particular designations
the Hop Mould, the Rose Midew and the Vine Mi
| dew The cultivation of the vine has almost Ell
| tirey ceased in Madeira from this cause, and it i
| everywhere precarious Hundreds of similar foe
attack hundreds of other plants, and not onl
plants but animals, that large treatise has bee
written by Robin illustrative of their effects upo
| the latter Certain species of fungi are pre-
moters of diseases, and although it is not probab
that they actually originate disease, 1T is prett
certain that they frequently aggravate it. The II
huence of others in the promotion OF certain cuts
neous disorders is now placed beyond all doubt Ii
sects are probably injured by particular funl
| than other members of the animal kingdom. Son
of them attack insects in the pupa arva state,
| as it is thought, while they are still living o.
| West Indian species is developed on perfect was
which flies about with its vegetating burden until Il
latter grows too heavy for it, and weighs it dov
| to death like an overburdened Sinbad. Our auth
believes this to be fact, upon the authority OF o.
| who has had opportunity of ascertainlng II
| real state of the se While this species has sue
a remarkable power of weighing down, others,
the common mushroom, have an equally remark
BILE power of lifting up, so that it is asserted tn
large fagstones have been raised by their irresis
BILE increase.