A Comparison of Ingredients of Ringworm Culture Mediums

It will be unnecessary to explain the need for the work above indicated to any one who has attempted the culture, particularly the identification of the ringworm fungi.For the sake of others, let it be said, first, that the proposition is very different from the cultivation of the bacteria, and that the difficulties are not along microscopic lines, but preeminently from the gross morphologic standpoint.Yet more pre- cisely, we are not concerned so much with the matter of luxuriance of growth, for at present our fungi grow easily enough.Rather are we trying to coax out differential characteristics.It is with the latter phase that this paper has to deal ; but before proceeding to our experimental work some preliminary considerations must be offered to make the work understandable.The problems before us can best be comprehended by keeping in mind throughout that the molds are plants.Much higher than the bacteria, they consist in most cases not alone of the more vegetative structures, such as the mycelia, which may be compared to stems of plants, but also of reproductive bodies which may be compared to the flowers and fruit.Keeping this in mind, it will at once be appreciated that differences in the medium on which the mold is planted must be expected to produce some order of change in gross morphology, just as variation in the composition of the soil would make a difference in the appearance of a tomato plant.That is, depending on the amount of moisture available, the amount of nutritive substances, such as phos¬ phorus, nitrogen, inorganic salts, etc., we may get anything from a yellow, scrawny, fruitless plant a foot or so high, up to the rank, deep green, fruitful growth with which everybody is familiar.While indulging in this comparison, let us recall that the appearance of plants will be different, too, at different stages of their growth.