Ringworm

Ringworm (Tinea tonsurans) is a disease dependent on the presence of a parasitic fungus, known to botanists as the Trichophyton tonsurans, and discovered in 1844 by Malmsten. The fungus consists of a mycelium, or network of threadlike filaments, with oval, transparent spores, about $\backslash frac\{1\}\{100\}$th of an inch in diameter, for the most part connected in chains, but sometimes isolated. When found on the surface of the body the fungus grows in the epidermis; but on the scalp, where it is most common, it is chiefly seated in the interior of the hair-roots. The diseased hairs lose their elasticity and break when they have risen a line or two above the scalp.