412 A REPORT ON THE 



served that the new articulations grew forth at the ends of the terminal 

 articulations, as the articulations to form new branches were emitted 

 laterally. During the fermentation of the expressed juice of the grape 

 similar plants were observed, which presented but a small diiference from 

 those of the beer-yeast, only that such long threads as are perceptible in 

 the latter were not noticed in the vinous fermentation. In the recently 

 expressed juice nothing of these plants is perceptible ; at 20° they may be 

 observed in thirty-six hours, and M. Schwann could observe the increase 

 of their volume under the microscope in the interval of from half an hour 

 to an entire hour ; they are here more globular, and generally only two 

 are adherent together. 



" I have also been able to observe the growth of new articulations from 

 the ends of older ones in plants from beer-yeast, and also in vinous 

 and apple ferments. The process is very interesting, and may be followed 

 completely ; the individual articulations subsequently separate and again 

 grow on under favourable circumstances. Each articulation of this plant 

 is a distinct independent plant, which immediately continues to grow 

 when disturbed in its adherence ; or each articulation must be regarded as 

 a spore of the plant. If the single articulations, in which state the plants 

 in the thick beer-yeast are generally found, are mixed in the mash, they 

 continue to grow, and in thinner fluids the plants become very large ; 

 their branches extend radiately in all directions. I boiled the plants from 

 beer-yeast for ten minutes, and yet I observed their further development 

 when again brought under the microscope j and M. Cogniard-Latour ex- 

 posed them to various degrees of cold ; but even after the action of a cold 

 90° cent, they still retained the property of decomposing sugar. 



" Similar plants occur in cider ferment ; they are articulated and rami- 

 fied in the same way as in the beer-yeast, but their joints are mostly three 

 times as broad as long, and I also observed on them an increase by mere 

 separation, although rarely. 



" M. Schwann demonstrates the connexion between the fungus de- 

 scribed and vinous fermentation : however it is probably yet too soon 

 to explain the phsenomena of fermentation from their development ; first, 

 because the formation of the fungus is carried on much earlier than the 

 development of carbonic acid in the fermenting fluid, and then there are 

 several other plants which are developed more or less at the same time 

 with them in the fermenting fluid, several of which, in connexion with 

 the former, are described under the untenable genus Mycoderma, Persoon 

 and Desmazieres ; nay, if the supposed species of Mycoderma had not been 

 figured by Desmazieres, we certainly should never have had a clear notion 

 of them. Desmazieres described a Mycoderma vim, glutinis farinulce, malti- 

 juniperi, malti-cerevisice , and cerevisicp ; buthere two entirely distinct things 

 are constantly united which do not at all belong to one another ; namely, 

 the small articulated fungus previously mentioned, which we call Saccharo- 

 myces after M. Schwann's proposal, and form at present the species Sac- 

 charomyces vini, cerevisicB and pomorum, occurring in all fermenting sub- 

 stances, together with a larger confervoid one, the formation of which is 

 also in many respects highly remarkable. To this place belongs the con- 

 fervoid fungus which Amici observed in the sap of the weeping vine, the 

 growth of which also takes place very rapidly, so that the elongation can 

 be observed in a few minutes. This confervoid fungus is more or less 

 shortly articulated in various fermenting substances, frequently unarticu- 

 lated and unramified for some length, and then the articulations form at the 

 branches, frequently over the whole thread at more or less regular di- 

 stances, and then again, especially towards the end of the branch, the arti- 

 culations swell to a globular form, subsequently disunite, and again de- 

 velope to new plants ; yet rarely will two fluids be found in which these 



