[On the analogy of ringworm, and of some other skin diseases, to fairy rings].
- Brown, Robert E.
- Date:
- [1847]
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: [On the analogy of ringworm, and of some other skin diseases, to fairy rings]. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.
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![occur rings of dark-green and luxuriant grass, which are well known by the name of fairy rings. They are most abundant, and are best known in thislcountry, in the southern parts of England where fields and meadows are in many districts thickly marked by them. They are met with of all sizes, from a few inches, to six eight, or even twelve feet in diameter; and the majority of them I form remarkably perfect circles, or segments of circles. A fairy ring, when watched from time to time, presents several notable 1 points for observation. During the greater part of the year, the ] circle of rich green grass itself is the chief thing that can be observ- \ ed ; but at certain seasons there may be noticed, immediately exte- J rior to it, another ring, composed of mushrooms or some other sort of fungous plants ; and beyond these again, a third ring of brown I and withered grass. The fungi met in connection with the fairy rings are the common mushroom (Agaricus campestris), which is found connected with rings of the largest size. The Champignon mushroom ( Agaricus orcades, Withering) is of more common oc- currence, but the rings connected with it are smaller in size, though more perfectly circular. Besides these, there are three other fungi, which more rarely present themselves, the Agaricus terreus ; Aga- ricus Procerus, and Lycoperdon bovista. The fairy rings continue visible for several years, during which time they are in a constant state of increase, varying in different instances from a few inches to two feet annually. In the course of this growth two or more not unfrequently come in contact; and when this takes place, even though the fungi of the several rings are different, they do not continue themselves into each other; but coalescing, they form one large and irregular figure. These observations were made, and were connected together into a theory of the origin of these curious appearances, by Dr Wollaston, in an essay which is published in the Philosophical Transactions for the year 1807, and which displays in a high de- gree the ingenuity and perfection so uniformly characteristic of the observations and inventions of that philosopher. The expla- nation given by Dr Wollaston is very satisfactory in itself; and, being in some measure supported by recent researches, it seems to me that little doubt can be entertained of its accuracy. According to Dr Wollaston, the rings originate in the follow- ing manner. A group of fungi spring up upon a spot of ground and flourish there until the soil becomes exhausted of some pecu- liar pabulum necessary for their existence. The spawn which they throw off, and which falls upon the ground already exhausted, finds no stimulus to growth, and it rots or lies dormant; but that which falls beyond this spot of ground upon the unexhausted soil, pro- duces a new crop of the plants exterior to the circumference of the original group. These in their turn flourish for a wrhile, throw](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b2491986x_0004.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
