Hypha

“ The hyphal filaments may be closely packed together and form a felted mass of compact tissue, which in cross section closely simulates the parenchyma of the higher plants. This pseudoparenchymatous form of thallus is particularly well illustrated by the so-called sclerotia; these are sharply defined and often tuberous masses of hyphal tissue covered by a firm rind and containing supplies of food in the inner hyphae. They are able to remain in a quiescent state for some time, and to resist unfavourable conditions until germination and the formation of a new individual take place. ”

“ If the membrane is of some impermeable substance, like gold leaf, the hyphae cannot dissolve its way through, but the tip finds the most minute pore and traverses the barrier by means of it, as it does a stoma on a leaf We may hence conclude that a parasitic hyphae pierces some plants or their stomata and refuses to enter others, because in the former case there are chemotropically attractive substances present which are absent from the latter, or are there replaced by repellent poisonous or protective substances such as enzymes or antitoxins. ”

“ When the free ends of the hyphae emerge again into the air they swell up into spherical bodies which may either fall off and behave as conidia, each putting out a germ-tube and infecting the host; or the germ-tube itself swells up into a zoosporangium which develops a number of zoospores. ”

“ The fungal filaments either penetrate the epidermis of the root, or enter it from the stem and ramify in the interior. Some make their way through the cells of the outer part of the cortex towards the root-tip, and form a mycelium or feltwork of hyphae, which generally occupies two or three layers of cells. From this branches pass into the middle region of the cortex and ramify through the interior half of its cells. They often cause a considerable hypertrophy of the tissue. From the outer cortical mycelium, again, branches pass through the epidermis and grow out in the soil. ”

“ The segments of the hyphae in this group usually contain several nuclei. At the time of sporangial formation the protoplasm with numerous nuclei streams into the swollen end of the sporangiophore and there becomes cut off by a cell-wall to form the sporangium. The protoplasm then becomes cut up by a series of clefts into a number of smaller and smaller pieces which are unicellular in Pilobolus, multicellular in Sporodinia. These then become surrounded by a cell-wall and form the spores. This mode of spore-formation is totally different from that in the ascus ”

“ A vertical section through an apothecium of Buellia parasema, the thallus below, and a portion of the woody substratum: a, the hymenium, composed of asci and paraphyses; b, the strongly developed, dark colored exciple; c, the dark colored hypothecium; d, the thallus, composed of interwoven hyphae, and enclosing cells of the algal host, a portion of the woody substratum. ”

“ Oh, that Hypatia might never know his shame! Yet it was impossible. Too dreadful to be true. . . .
'You lie!' almost shrieked he. 'I am the son of a noble citizen of Athens. Arsenius told me so, but this moment, with his own lips!'
'Ah, but he bought you—bought you in the public market; and he can prove it!'
'Hear me—hear me, my son!' cried the old man, springing toward him. Philammon, in his fury, mistook the gesture and thrust him fiercely back.
'Your son!—your slave! Do not insult the name of son by applying it to me. Yes, sir; your slave in body, but not in soul! ”

“ IV. Miriam One morning in the same week, Hypatia's favourite maid entered her chamber with a somewhat terrified face.
'The old Jewess, madam—the hag who has been watching so often lately under the wall opposite. She frightened us all out of our senses last evening by peeping in. We all said she had the evil eye, if any one ever had—'
'Well, what of her?'
'She is below, madam, and will speak with you. Not that I care for her; I have my amulet on. I hope you have?'
'Silly girl! Those who have been initiated as I have in the mysteries of the gods, can defy spirits and command them. ”

“ I never knelt to human being.'
'Then consider that you kneel to the handsome idol there, if you will—but kneel!'
And, constrained by that glittering eye, Hypatia knelt before her.
'Have you faith? Have you desire? Will you submit? Will you obey? Self-will and pride see nothing, know nothing. If you do not give up yourself, neither God nor devil will care to approach. Do you submit?'
'I do! I do!' cried poor Hypatia, in an agony of curiosity and self-distrust, while she felt her eye quailing and her limbs loosening more and more every moment under that intolerable fascination. ”

“ If that latter were her destiny, as Hypatia said, she should at least die fighting against it, defying it, cursing it! Better virtue with hell, than sin with heaven! And Hypatia had not even promised her a heaven. The resurrection of the flesh was too carnal a notion for her refined and lofty creed. And so, his four months' dream swept away in a moment, he hurried back to his chamber, with one fixed thought before him—the desert; a cell for Pelagia; another for himself. There they would repent, and pray, and mourn out life side by side, if perhaps God would have mercy upon their souls. ”

“ Hypatia will be from this day alone with the Immortal Gods!'
'You will not leave me?' cried the old man, terrified.
'Never on earth!' answered she, bursting into real human tears, and throwing herself on his bosom. 'Never—never! father of my spirit as well as of my flesh!—the parent who has trained me, taught me, educated my soul from the cradle to use her wings!—the only human being who never misunderstood me—never thwarted me—never deceived me!'
'My priceless child! ”

“ Thallus foliose, but smaller and thinner than that of Peltigera, and devoid of trichomatic hyphae, more or less closely attached to the substratum by rhizoids; cortex well developed on both upper and lower sides; medulla well developed (Fig. 2) ; apothecia confined to the lower side of the thallus, marginal on narrow, slightly elongated lobes, thalloid margin persistent and crenate; hypothecium usually some shade of brown; hymenium [Pg 359] usually pale below and brown above; paraphyses simple or branched; spores brown, 4-celled, 8 in each ascus. ”

“ For the sake of the immortal gods—for the sake of art, and science, and learning, and philosophy . . . . It shall be. If the gods demand a victim, here am I. If a second time in the history of the ages the Grecian fleet cannot sail forth, conquering and civilizing, without the sacrifice of a virgin, I give my throat to the knife. Father, call me no more Hypatia: call me Iphigenia!'
'And me Agamemnon?' asked the old man, attempting a faint jest through his tears of joy. 'I daresay you think me a very cruel father ”

“ But after all, Prince Wulf—of course you are always right; we all know that—but what's the use of marrying this Hypatia to the Amal?'
'Use?' said Wulf, smiting down his goblet on the pavement. 'Use? you purblind old hamster-rat, who think of nothing but filling your own cheek-pouches!—to give him a wife worthy of a hero, as he is, in spite of all—a wife who will make him sober instead of drunk, wise instead of a fool, daring instead of a sluggard—a wife who can command the rich people for us, and give us a hold here, which if once we get, let us see who will break it! ”

“ Philammon started, and Miriam burst into loud, shrill laughter.
'From Hypatia, I'll warrant! From the fair Greek woman, of course— vain child that you are—never thinking of the poor old Jewess.'
'And did you? did you?' gasped Philammon.
'Have I to thank you, then, for that strange generosity?'
'Not to thank me, but to obey me; for mind, I can prove your debt to me, every obol, and claim it if I choose. But don't fear; I won't be hard on you, just because you are in my power. I hate every one who is not so. As soon as I have a hold on them, I begin to love them. ”

“ But still . . . . An empress need not be above hearing her subject's petition. . . .'
All this was uttered rapidly, and in a wheedling undertone, with a continual snaky writhing of her whole body, except her eye, which seemed, in the intense fixity of its glare, to act as a fulcrum for all her limbs; and from that eye, as long as it kept its mysterious hold, there was no escaping.
'What do you mean? What have I to do with this ring?' asked Hypatia, half frightened.
'He who owned it once, offers it to you now. You recollect a little black agate—a paltry thing. . . . . ”

“ You are silent. Be so, Hypatia.... We have gone up too far into the abysses....
And so they both were silent for a while. And Raphael thought solemn thoughts about Victoria, and about ancient signs of Isaiah’s, which were to him none the less prophecies concerning The Man whom he had found, because he prayed and trusted that the same signs might be repeated to himself, and a child given to him also, as a token that, in spite of all his baseness, ‘God was with him.’
But he was a Jew, and a man: Hypatia was a Greek, and a woman—and for that matter, so were the men of her school. ”

“ Pelagia looked up, with something of a tender smile. 'Poor darling! Little do you know of love!'
Philammon, utterly bewildered by this newest and strangest phase of human passion, could only gasp out—
'But do you not love me, too, my sister?'
'Do I not love you? But not as I love him! Oh, hush, hush!—, you cannot understand yet!' And Pelagia hid her face in her hands, while convulsive shudderings ran through every limb. . . .
'I must do it! I must! I will dare every thing, stoop to everything for love's sake! Go to her!—to the wise woman!—to Hypatia! She loves you! I know that she loves you! ”

“ What do you mean by intruding here?' said Hypatia, springing up; but the old woman went on coolly—
'Why not try the fair young gentleman over there?' pointing to a copy of the Apollo which we call Belvedere—'What is his name? Old maids are always cross and jealous, you know. But he—he could not be cruel to such a sweet face as that. Try the fair young lad! Or, perhaps, if you are bashful, the old Jewess might try him for you?'
These last words were spoken with so marked a significance, that Hypatia, in spite of her disgust, found herself asking the hag what she meant. ”

“ But Hypatia sat still in her chamber, her face buried in her hands, her heart full of many thoughts; her eyes of tears. She had smiled away her father's fears; she could not smile away her own.
She felt, she hardly knew why, but she felt as clearly as if a god had proclaimed it to her bodily ears, that the crisis of her life was come: that her political and active career was over, and that she must now be content to be for herself, and in herself alone, all that she was, or might become. The world might be regenerated: but not in her day;—the gods restored ”

“ For before he had gone fifty yards up the street, his little friend of the fruit-basket, whom he had not seen since he vanished under the feet of the mob in the gateway of the theatre, clutched him by the arm, and burst forth, breathless with running—
‘The—gods—heap their favours—on those who—who least deserve them! Rash and insolent rustic! And this is the reward of thy madness!’
‘Off with you!’ said Philammon, who had no mind at the moment to renew his acquaintance with the little porter. But the guardian of parasols kept a firm hold on his sheepskin.
‘Fool! Hypatia herself commands! ”

“ It is hardly fair to expect an unbiassed answer in my presence.'
'Why so?' said Philammon. 'Why should I not tell you, as well as all the world, the fresh and wonderful field of thought which they have opened to me in a few short hours?'
'What then?' asked Hypatia, smiling, as if she knew what the answer would be. 'In what does my commentary differ from the original text of Apollonius, on which I have so faithfully based it?'
'Oh, as much as a living body differs from a dead one. Instead of mere dry disquisitions on the properties of lines and curves, I found a mine of poetry and theology. ”

“ The real wonder is that the other episcopal match-maker was Augustine of Hippo himself!’
‘Anything to bribe a convert,’ said Hypatia contemptuously.
‘I assure you, no. He informed me, and her also, openly and uncivilly enough, that he thought us very much to be pitied for so great a fall.... But as we neither of us seemed to have any call for the higher life of celibacy, he could not press it on us.... We should have trouble in the flesh. But if we married we had not sinned. ”

“ One word before we part. The same devil who tempted these old Egyptians tempts you. The same God who would have saved these old Egyptians if they had willed, will save you, if you will. Their sins are yours, their errors yours, their doom yours, their deliverance yours. There is nothing new under the sun. The thing which has been, it is that which shall be. Let him that is without sin among you cast the first stone, whether at Hypatia or Pelagia, Miriam or Raphael, Cyril or Philammon. ”

“ Hypatia shook her head sadly.
'Ah, boys will be boys . . . . I plead guilty myself. Video meliora proboque, deteriora sequor. You must not be hard on us . . . . Whether we obey you or not in private life, we do in public; and if we enthrone you queen of Alexandria, you must allow your courtiers and bodyguards a few court licences. Now don't sigh or I shall be inconsolable. At all events, your worst rival has betaken herself to the wilderness, and gone to look for the city of the gods above the cataracts.'
'Whom do you mean?' asked Hypatia, in a tone most unphilosophically eager. ”

“ But why should that make Hypatia or any one else attractive?. And the poor little child of nature gazed in deep bewilderment at a crowd of new questions, as a butterfly might at the pages of the book on which it has settled, and was sad and discontented—not with herself, for was she not Pelagia the perfect?—but with these strange fancies which came into other people's heads.—Why should not every one be as happy as they could? ”