Fungi: Their Nature and UsesCooke, M. C. (Mordecai Cubitt)
Science
Fungi: Their Nature and Uses
Cooke, M. C. (Mordecai Cubitt)
Fungi
"I have seen a stipe opened and lacerated irregularly, the whole of
the flesh of which remained phosphorescent during three consecutive
evenings, but the brightness diminished in intensity from the exterior
to the interior, so that on the third day it did not issue from the
inner part of the stipe. The phosphorescence of the gills is in no way
modified at first by immersing the fungus in water; when they have
been immersed they are as bright as in the air, but the fungi which I
left immersed until the next evening lost all their phosphorescence,
and communicated to the water an already sensible yellow tint; alcohol
put upon the phosphorescent gills did not at once completely
obliterate the light, but visibly enfeebled it. As to the spores,
which are white, I have found many times very dense coats of them
thrown down on porcelain plates, but I have never seen them
phosphorescent.
"As to the observation made by Delile that the Agaric of the olive
does not shine during the day when placed in total darkness, I think
that it could not have been repeated. From what I have said of the
phosphorescence of _A. olearius_, one naturally concludes that there
does not exist any necessary relation between this phenomenon and the
fructification of the fungus; the luminous brightness of the hymenium
shows, says Delile, 'the greater activity of the reproductive organs,'
but it is not in consequence of its reproductive functions, which may
be judged only as an accessory phenomenon, the cause of which is
independent of, and more general than these functions, since all the
parts of the fungus, its entire substance, throws forth at one time,
or at successive times, light. From these experiments Tulasne infers
that the same agents, oxygen, water, and warmth, are perfectly
necessary to the production of phosphorescence as much in living
organized beings as in those which have ceased to live. In either
case, the luminous phenomena accompany a chemical reaction which
consists principally in a combination of the organized matter with the
oxygen of the air; that is to say, in its combustion, and in the
discharge of carbonic acid which thus shows itself."
We have quoted at considerable length from these observations of
Tulasne on the Agaric of the olive, as they serve very much to
illustrate similar manifestations in other species, which doubtless
resemble each other in their main features.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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