Going back to my earlier experimental researches to determine the part taken by saccharomycetes and saprophytes in fermentation, I find, from correspondence in my possession, that in 1859 I demonstrated to the satisfaction of Dr. Bell, F.R.S., the then head of the chemical laboratory of Somerset House, that a very small portion of putrefactive matter taken from an animal body, a parasitic fungus (_Achorion Schöenleinii_), a mould (_Aspergillus_ or _Penicillium_), and a yeast (_Torula cerevisiæ_) would in a short time, and indifferently, set up a ferment in sweet-wort and transform its saccharine elements into alcohol, differing only in degree (quantitative), and not in kind or quality. This, then, was the first step in the direction towards proving symbiotic action between these several parasitic organisms. The only apparent difference observed during the fermentative processes was that putrefactive (saprophytic) action commenced at a somewhat earlier stage, and that the percentage of alcohol was also somewhat less.[51] In 1856, also, the ærobic bacteria attracted my attention, and, together with the late Rev. Lord Sidney Godolphin Osborne, I exposed plates of glass (microscopical slides), covered with glycerine and grape sugar, in every conceivable place where we thought it possible to arrest micro-organisms. The result is known, viz., that fungoid bodies (moulds and bacterial) were taken in great numbers, and varying with the seasons. The air of the hospital and sick-room likewise engaged attention, each of which proved especially rich in parasitic bodies. During the cholera visitation of 1858 the air was rich in ærobic and anærobic bacteria, while a _blue mist_ which prevailed throughout the epidemic yielded a far greater number than at any former period (represented in Plate I., No. 13). This blue mist attracted the especial attention of meteorologists. At a somewhat later period a more remarkable fungoid disease, the fungus foot of India, _mycetoma_, came under my observation, a detailed description of which I contributed to the medical journals, and also, with further details, to the “Monthly Microscopical Journal” of 1871. Interlacing mycelia, ending in hyphæ, in this destructive form of parasitic disease were seen to pervade the whole of the tissues of the foot, the bony structures being involved, and it was only possible to stay the action of the parasite by amputation. So far, then, the study of parasitic organisms had at an early period shared largely in my microscopical work, extending over several years, and with the result that these micro-organisms were found to exhibit on occasions great diversity of character, and that different members of the bacteria in particular flourish under great diversity of action, and often under entirely opposite conditions; that they feed upon wholly different materials, and perform an immense variety of chemical work in the media in which they live.