Called by its proper name and no longer deemed a mysterious visitation, the fungus remains an uncanny object; the more that is known of it the more it appears to transgress the ethics of an honest planthood. Its manner of fastening upon a "host," of sending its filaments deep down among the life juices and slowly drawing out their strength, until the tissues are helpless to contend with death, excites feelings of loathing and dread. Its enormous powers of reproduction and locomotion, millions of spores lifted and borne by the breeze over vast distances, its variety of forms so diverse that they baffle the careful student after long examination, the difficulty with which it is overcome and exterminated, all contribute to a power overshadowing and thwarting the innocent plant as demons of old story overshadowed and thwarted the objects of their hate. As to the saprophytes, the corpse plants, they are veritable "ghouls." Hatch Barn.       One is not surprised, therefore, to find the herbaria of fungi differing widely from the herbaria of the flowers. The airy structures of the Coprinus and of the Mucor have collapsed like the fabrics of magic when confronted by a wholesome influence. The gay coloring of the "saucer fungi" and of the "red rust" has dulled and vanished, like the charm of Mephisto when his power is gone. A pressed flower is pathetic in its appeal to an honest and lovely past, in outlines still vigorous and tints that endure. A pressed fungus is as disconnected and as repulsive as old rags or dead skin.       It is easy to be unfair to the fungus. After all, in its preying upon other lives it obeys an impulse as legitimate as that which sends the lion or the tiger out hunting. It is hungry. It has no food and having no chlorophyll cannot make any. It is bound to play the brigand or die; and as nothing dies voluntarily in this world, not even a fungus, it springs upon a succulent vegetable or a stalwart tree, penetrates between the cells and fastens on their sides, or spreads over the surface and fastens there, with the same sang-froid and good appetite which attend the bacillus and the bacterium in their feast upon human tissues. Our sympathies are with the "hosts," plant or man, but undoubtedly the fungi have a case if any one is unprejudiced enough to see it.       The aid furnished by the herbaria and by jars of specimens preserved in alcohol is supplemented by Prof. Humphrey's drawings of the various cultures in different stages of development. These are left for reference in drawers of the library and are of great value to the student.       In the preparation of cultures, the utmost care is required to procure a perfectly sterilized "medium" or food. The pertinacity of the fungus in clinging to life is equalled, if not exceeded, by his minute kinsmen, the bacteria, whose germs survive successive boilings. Accordingly, the vessel which is to contain the medium, its mouth closed with absorbent cotton, is first placed in a sterilizing oven. Then both vessel and medium are submitted to intermittent sterilization, leaving intervals of perhaps twenty-four hours between the exposures to a heat of 3200 Fahrenheit. To the voracious appetite of the fungus, a variety of foods is welcome, —an infusion of prunes, potato broth, beef tea, and either of these thickened by the addition of gelatine or of agaragar, the Japanese sea moss. A piece of bread is dipped in the decoction and placed on a glass bench surrounded by water, in the "culture chamber," which consists of two glass covers put together. Upon this bread are sown the spores of the fungus to be studied. In a day tiny filaments appear, -- page 72 -- | Previous Page | Next Page | | Town of Amherst Page | Hampshire County | Western MA History & Genealogy | These pages are © Laurel O'Donnell, 2005, all rights reserved Copying these pages without written permission for the purpose of republishing in print or electronic format is strictly forbidden This page was last updated on 12 Sep 2005