Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 9.djvu/872

 836 U R F IT R dom by the majority of botanists,- whether justly or not re mains to be determined by future research. Order VI. SCHIZOMYCETES. In the Schizomycetes, the usual and apparently most common form of reproduction is by simple segmentation. In several forms, however, repro duction of a higher type has been observed. An instance of this is to be found in Bacillus anthracis the cause of splenic fever the life-history of which, according to Ewart, Koch, and others, is as follows. At first the Bacilli con sist of motionless hyaline rods capable of segmentation, which after a short time pass through a motile phase lasting usually several hours. After settling down these rods elongate considerably in a short time ; if the temperature be favourable a rod may increase in five hours to from 80 or 100 times its original length. The filaments usually be come interwoven like mycelial hyphse, and are in most cases irregular in their course. Within them spores are soon formed by free cell-formation, each spore being separated from its neighbour by a transverse septum. At this stage the filaments decay more or less rapidly and set free the oval spores, which are, from Cohn s measurement, not more than -jyoTnj- to TytnrT inch in tueir greatest diameter. According to Koch these spores directly elongate into fila ments, but Ewart has more recently observed that they divide into four sporules, each of which germinates by the production of a filament. These filaments become motion less rods such as those from which we started. In the classification of this order much confusion exists from the meagreness of our knowledge of the life-history of its members. Organisms described as Micrococcus, Bac terium, and Bacillus are apparently in many cases different phases of the same life-history. Much attention has been paid to their influence on diseases of men and animals, from their frequent occurrence on mucous surfaces, on wounds, and elsewhere. An extensive literature has arisen on this subject, but its interest is far more medical than botanical. Whether these organisms are the concomitants or the causes of diseases in men and animals has not often been decided, and is still much debated, a source of frequent error being the confusion of debris of various kind j with Bacteria, Arc. &quot; Spontaneous generation &quot; has also been attributed to them, but there has certainly not been anything like proof to tup- port this assertion. The following are the most important works of reference on this subject : Morphology and Physiology. A. dc Bary, Morphologic und Phy siologic dor Pilzc, Flechtcn, und Myxomycctcn, Leipsic, 1866; Id., Die, Mycctozoen Schleimpilzc, Leipsic, 1864; Id., Untcrsuchungcn iibcr die Brandpilze, Berlin, 1853 ; Id., &quot;Recherches sur les Cham pignons parasites,&quot; in Ann. Sc. not., torn, xx., 4e series ; Id., Die rruchtenlwic-kelung dcr Ascomycctcn, Leipsic, 1863; Id.. , Zur Kcnnt- niss dcr Mucorincn und Pcronosporecn, Frankfort, 1865 ; De Bary and Woronin, Bcitriigc stir Morphologic aud Physiologic dcr Pihc, Frankfort, 1864; M. J. Berkeley, Introduction to Cryptogamic Botany, London, 1857; H. Bonorden, Handbuch dcr atlgcmcincn Mykologie, Stuttgart, 1851 ; 0. Brefeld, Botanischc Untcrsuchungen ilber Schimmclpilzc, Leipsic, 1872-77; M. Cornu, &quot;Monographic des Saprolegniees,&quot;in Ann. Sc. nat., 1872 ; C. Nageli, Die. nicdcrcn Pike in ihrer Bczichungcn zu dcr Lifcctionskrankhcitcn und dcr Ocsundhcitxpflcgc, Munich, 1877 ; S. Schwenclcner, Untersuehungcn iiber den Flechtcnthallus, Leipsic, 1860-1868 ; E. Stahl, Bcitrdgc zur Entwickclungsg. schichtc. dcr Flcchtcn, Leipsic, 1878 ; Loiiis Rene and Charles Tulasne, Sclccta fungorum carpologia, Paris, 1861-65 ; Van Tieghem, &quot; Mernoires sur les Mucorinees,&quot; in Ann. Sc. nat. The student is also referred to the files of the Botanischc Zcilnng, the Amiales des Sciences nalurcllcs, Pringsheim s Jahr- biichcr, and Cohn s Bcttrage zur Biologic dfr Pjlanztn, for excellent and important papers, far too numerous to lw quoted here. Systematic Mycology. M. C. Cooke, Handbook of British Fungi, Ixmdon, 1871 ; A. Corda, Icones Fungorum hucusquc cognitorum, Prague, 1837 42 ; M. J. Berkeley, Outlines of British Fungology, London, 1860 ; P. Bulliard, Hcrbier dc la France, Paris, 1780-98; E. M. Fries, Systcnia Mycologicum, Grcifswaldc, 1821-32; Id., Hymcnomycetes Europai, Upsala, 1874; Id., ICO-MS selects Hymend- &quot;Weetwn nondum dclineatorum ; L. Fiickel, Syinbolcc. Mycologies, &amp;gt;V lesbaden, 1869-75 ; L. Rabenhorst, Dcutschlands Kryptogamcn- Flora, Leipsic, 1844-48; J. Eostafinski, A Monograph of the Myxoinycetcs i:i the Polish language (partly translated into English by M. C. Cooke) ; J. Sowerby, Coloured Figures of English Fungi, &c., London, 1797-1815 ; L. R. and C. Tulasne, Fungi hypogcei, Paris, 1863; D. R. Visiani, I fungi ii d Italia, Genoa, 1834; C. Vittadini, Monographia Tubcracearum, Milan, 1831 ; Id., Mono graphia Lycopcrdimorum, Turin, 1843. (G. MU.) FUR. Certain animals, which inhabit the colder climates, have a covering upon the skin called fur, lying alongside of another and longer covering, called the over- hair. The fur differs from the overhair in that it is soft, silky, curly, downy, and barbed lengthwise, while the over- hair is straight, smooth, and comparatively rigid. These properties of fur constitute its essential value for felting purposes, and mark its difference from wool and silk ; the first, after some slight preparation by the aid of hot water, readily unites its fibres into a strong and compact mass ; the others can best be managed by spinning and weaving. On the living animal the overhair keeps the fur filaments apart, prevents their tendency to felt, and protects them from injury thus securing to the animal an immunity from cold and storm ; while, as a matter of fact, this very overhair, though of an humbler name, is most generally the beauty and pride of the pelt, and marks its chief value with the furrier. We arrive thus at two distinct and opposite uses and values of fur. Regarded as useful for felt it is denominated staple fur, while with respect to its use with and on the pelt it is called fancy fur. For the one purpose the Russian hare skin is more valuable than the Russian sable, while for the other the sable may be valued at one thousand times the former. History.- The manufacture of fur into a felt is of com paratively modern origin, while the use of fur pelts as a covering for the body, for the couch, or for the tent is coeval with the earliest history of all northern tribes and nations. They were not simply a barbarous expedient to defend man from the rigours of an arctic winter ; woven wool alone cannot, in its most perfect form, accomplish this. The pelt or skin is requisite to keep out the piercing wind and driv ing storm, while the fur and overhair ward off the cold; and they are as much a necessity to-day among more northern peoples as they ever were in the days of barbarism. With them the providing of this necessary covering became the first purpose of their toil ; subsequently the article grew into an object of barter and traffic, at first among themselves, and afterwards with their neighbours of more temperate climes ; and with the latter it naturally became an article of fashion, of ornament, and of luxury. This, in brief, has been the history of its use in China, Tartary, Russia, Siberia, and North America, and at present the employ ment of fancy furs among the civilized nations of Europe and America has grown to be more extensive than at any former period. The supply of this demand in earlier times led to such severe competition as to terminate in tribal pillages and even national wars ; and in modern times it has led to commercial ventures on the part of individuals and companies, the account of which, told in its plainest form, reads like the pages of a romance. Furs have constituted the price of redemption for royal captives, the gifts of emperors and kings, and the pecular badge of state function aries. At the present day they vie with precious gems and gold as ornaments and garniture for wealth and fashion ; but by their abundance, and the cheapness of some varieties, they have recently come within the reach of men of moderate incomes. The history of furs can be read in Marco Polo, as he grows eloquent with the description of the rich skins of the khan of Tartary ; in the early fathers of the church, who lament their introduction into Rome and Byzantium as an evidence of barbaric and debasing luxury ; in the political history of Russia, stretching out a powerful arm over Siberia to secure her rich treasures ; in the story of the