36 Slack, on a Ferment found in Red French Wine. 



latter ferment is'formed at its expense. He adds, " red wines 

 commonly produce only the Mycoderma vini, because this 

 plant multiplies with the greatest facility in wines which 

 contain most nitrogenous and extractive matter." 



In the beginning of November the writer opened a bottle 

 of so-called " light claret," which he believes to consist of a 

 mixture of a strong red wine from the South of France with a 

 thinner white wine from some neighbouring locality. Mixtures 

 of this sort, if properly made of sound wines, are not objec- 

 tionable in point of flavour, and there is no reason to suppose 

 them umvholesome. The wine in question was a good spe- 

 cimen of its kind, and nothing particular had been observed 

 in bottles previously tapped. In this case, however, upon 

 pouring out a quantity in a tumbler, there soon floated ^ to 

 the top, and adhered round the sides of the glass, a reddish 

 matter looking much like the powder of a decayed cork. 

 Microscopical examination with a power of 240 showed a 

 prodigious number of small cells, which, under this magnifi- 

 cation, looked jiretty much alike. 



Powers of from 900 to 1400, obtained with Messrs. Beck's 

 Voth objective, enabled the form and structure of the cells to- 

 be distinctly seen. It was then found that they varied 

 in size and shape much more than was apparent when 



Pig. 1. 



X \A-0 



larger powers were employed (Fig. 1), and many cells 

 that had appeared simple were discovered to be jointed. 

 The majority of the cells were ovoid, and jointed at one or 

 both ends. Small cells were, in many cases, attached to 

 larger cells, as if growing out of them, and a few very short 

 mycelium threads were mingled with the cells. Amongst 

 the largest of these formations were triple groups, consisting 

 of a small round cell, and a larger round one, surmounted 



