The dwelling house / by George Vivian Poore.

  • Poore G. V. (George Vivian), 1843-1904.
Date:
1897
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The dwelling house / by George Vivian Poore. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    But if the plants themselves are indej^endent of dung, it is not so, apparently, with the symbiotic nodules, which seem to nourish far more vigorously in rich garden ground than they do in comparatively poor farm land. Thus Sir John Lawes has grown clover in a rich old garden for forty-two years, and has had luxuriant crops every year. According to my own observation on the scarlet runner lx?an these nodules are more plentiful upon the roots which grow Huperhcially than uix>n those which run deeply. Symbiosis is observable in many plants other than the legtiminosa?, and it is certain that many of our big forest trees depend for their nourishment U|K)n fungi which grow upon their roots. All animals appear to be symbiotic, for we all carry about millions of microl)C8, which must fairly l>e regarded as junior partners in our economy, and which we cannot do without. The microln? which has l>een chiefly studied— the liactrrium CoH commune—appears to be essential for certain digestive processes which go on in the intestines while we live; and when we die, this microb«* is Jictive in starting the dead body uiwn that cycle of events which is one form of the ‘ Circulation of Organic Matter.’ Now it is certain that the dung of all animals swarms with bacteria and tUlied organisms when it leaves the intestines, and it seems highly probable that excrement carries with it the biological machinery which is necessary for its dissolution and ultimate humification. My friend, Mr. George Murray, F.B.S., the kce}>er of the liotanical ])epartment of the British Museum, whose learn- ing in fungology is well known, has kindly furnished me with an elaborate list of 139 genera of fungi which flourish on excrement. Of these 139 genera, Mr. Murray has tabulate<l no less