CTIAPTER X.
DISEA SE S CAUSED B Y E U NG I.
F ungi were long regarded as the mere creatures of putrescence,
and therefore as the consequence, not the cause of
disease. A more intimate acquaintance with their structure
and habits has, however, removed much of this prejudice, and
almost every one is now ready to acknowledge what a w'eighty
influence they have in inducing diseased condition, both in the
animal and vegetable world.
A large treatise* has been written by Robin, relative to
their efl'ects on animals, and there are multitudes of scattered
memoirs on the same subject ; hut, unfortunately, the Fungi
which occur in the diseases of man, or other members of the
animal kingdom, have seldom been examined by persons intimately
acquainted with these Fungi, so that the species, or
even genera in question, are often doubtful. I t is, however,
certain that many of those which are found on different parts
of the mucous membrane of animals, in a more or less advanced
stage- of growth, are, like the Fungi of yeast, referable
to common species of Mould. I t is not probable that in
* ‘ Histoire Naturelle des Végétaux Parasites qui croissent sur l’Homme et
sur les Animaux Twants.’ Paris, 8vo. 1853. Par Charles Eobin.
these cases Fungi originate disease, though it is pretty certain
that they frequently aggravate it. The spores of our common
Moulds float about everywhere, and, as they grow with great
rapidity, they are able to establish themselves on any surface
where the secretion is not sufficiently active or healthy to
throw off the intruder. Where the spores are very abundant,
they may sometimes, like other minute bodies, obstruct the
minute cells of the lungs, but there is no reason to believe
that they induce epidemic diseases, such as cholera or influenza,
according to an opinion once somewhat prevalent, whatever
their abundance may he, or however easily they may
be collected, as some assert, at the mouths of sewers, or in
other situations likely to produce miasma.
One very curious production, known under the name of
Sarcina, from its resembling minute woolpacks, is a pretty
constant attendant on cancerous affections of the stomach,
though not confined to them. Not only has it been found
in certain secretions, but Dr. W. Tilbury Fox has discovered
bodies which he cannot distinguish in severe cases of the skin
affection called Tinea tonsurans. Dr. H. O. Stephens found
an organism of precisely the same structure, though of a
bright-orange, on imported bones, at Bristol; and Dr. Lowe
found Sarcina in profusion in water in which he had placed
some crystals of cholesterine. I t is probable that this is a
mere condition of some common Mould, but every attempt to
make it germinate and produce its proper fruit has at present
failed.
The influence of Fungi in the production of certain cutaneous
disorders is now placed beyond all doubt. A few spores
rubbed into the skin, or inserted in it, soon produce the disease
known by the name of Porrigo lupinosa, and experiments
have lately been made which tend to show that this immeI
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