VINEGAR. 



810 



VINEGAE-PLANT. 



doubted) Erysiphce (fig. 14), in very slightly 

 different and equally irregidar forms. 



There can be no doubt Avhatever, that it 

 is the cause and not a consequence of the 

 'murrain;' still there are various curious 

 circumstances connected ■with it not at all 

 understood. It is probable that peculiar 

 atmospheric conditions induce predisposing 

 states of the plants : but the phenomena 

 are enigmatical : we have had it completely 

 covering a vine in a small greenhouse, de- 

 stroying all the fruit one year; and although 

 no precautions were taken (as it was desired 

 to study the disease), no sign of mildew 

 appeared there the next year ; wliUe on an 

 out-door trellis, a few yards oif, the disease 

 reappeared in a slight form in the second 

 season. The application of sulphur appears 

 to arrest the growth. 



BiBL. Berkelev, Qardener''s Chron. 1847, 

 no. 48 ; Jn. BoH. Soc. vi. 284, ix. 01 ; Mon- 

 tague, Bull. Soc. Centr. Agric, 2. v. ; Jn. 

 Iloi't. Soc, ix. 112; Amici, Atti cMF Accad. 

 de' GeorffofiU, xxx., Jn. Hort. Soc. viii. 231 : 

 Savi, ibid. 241 ; Tulasne, Bot. Zeit. xi. 2o7 ; 

 Compt. Bendus, xxx'^ii. ; Thuemeu, Pihe d. 

 Weinstocke, 1878. 



VINEGAR, Eels in. See Anguillttla. 



VINEGAR-PLANT.— Under this name 

 is known a remarkable vegetable production 

 formed in fluids rich in sugar, when under- 

 going fermentation at ordinaiy temperatures 

 and conversion into vinegar. As ordinarily 

 met with, it forms a tough gelatinous mass 

 floating on the surface of the liquid, its 

 shape (superficially) defined by that of the 

 vessel in which it is contained, extending 

 itself so as to occupy the whole surface even 

 in very large pans, — its depth or thickness 

 depending on its age and the amount of uli- 

 triment contained in the liquid. The gela- 

 tinous substance decreases in density from 

 above downwards, the lower part being very 

 lax and flocculent, the inferior surface being 

 in a state of continuous development. The 

 general mass, however, displays remarkable 

 tenacity, which, together with its lubricity, 

 renders it difiicult to tear ; but if the lower 

 surfiice is examined, it is found possible to 

 strip ofl" layer aftei* layer, each a few lines 

 thick, to an extent depending on conditions 

 of growth, the lower, less dense portion 

 being thus distinctly stratified. 



When portions are placed beneath the 

 microscope, very varied forms of structure 

 are discovered in the interior. The general 

 mass of jelly appears structureless, as if 

 formed by some exudation, or solution of 



the organized portion ; but the mode of ori- 

 gin of this jelly is not yet ascertained. 

 Imbedded in the jelly are cellular structures, 

 polymorphous indeed, but exhibiting trans- 

 itions which render it impossible to regard 

 them as of distinct origin. In the middle 

 portion often occiu' innumerable isolated 

 masses of short rows of cells, resembling 

 the cells of Yeast when coherent, except 

 that they are generally elliptical ; some of 

 them have short cylindrical joints : others 

 short cylindrical portions arising from long 

 tubular filaments, and terminating in ellip- 

 tical cells, so as to resemble exactly Oidium. 

 The diameter of all these structures is most 

 variable, from 1-4000 to 1-8000". In the 

 upper part, the elongated branched filaments 

 more aboimd, the length of the intemodes 

 and the diameter of the tubes still varying 

 extremely. At the lower, laxer surface^ the 

 ceUiilar structures are accompanied by less 

 of the tough gelatinous matrix. The lami- 

 nation of the lower growing surface is very 

 curious, but may perhaps be accounted for 

 by supposing that the inferior growing sur- 

 face of the mass, which is certainly the 

 mycelium of a fimgus, periodically produces 

 a crop of conidia, which become detached 

 and fall into the body of the liquid on which 

 the mass floats ; there quickly germinating, 

 they form a new entangled mass of filaments 

 and chaplets of cells, which then acquires 

 its gelatinous consistence, and, buoyed up 

 by the liquid, applies itself against the lower 

 surface of the parent mass, with which it 

 adhei-es, more or less, on account of the gela- 

 tinous condition. In the upper part of old 

 and thick masses, the layers become insepa- 

 rable — probably in some measure from the 

 pressure of the floating force from below, 

 together witli the condensation arising fi'om 

 the evaporation of the liquid of the jelly at 

 the upper surfiice. 



When a vinegar-plant is left upon the 

 solution after the saccharine matter is ex- 

 hausted, we find it always display, after a 

 certain time, patches of the ordinary fructi- 

 fication of PENICILL,IUM///«?<eH?H (fig. 805), 

 as stated by Turpin and others, forming 

 green, blue, and yellow "mould'' upon the 

 surface, and imbedded in the upper strata, 

 in which also heaps of the spores occur; 

 the vinegar sometimes ultimately suffers 

 more or less decomposition, so that the 

 common " mother " of vineo'ar, which by 

 its gT0^vth destroys the acidity, appears to 

 be another condition of this same organ- 

 ism. In some cases where we kept an 



