BY R. OREIG SMITH. 655 



size, and may therefore be called short stout rods. In fluids 

 other than wine, as for example glucose-yeast-water, the organisms 

 are thinner and show stained parts of unequal size. A rounder 

 form is obtained when cultivations are made in nutrient gelatine, 

 to which a little wine, say one-fourth of the volume of gelatine, 

 is added. In this medium they appear as coccobacteria, varying 

 in size from 05 : 0-6 ll to 06 : 0-9 ll. When stained with blue 

 they appear like diplococci, the unstained central part being a 

 narrow unstained line, on either side of which are hemispherical 

 stained portions. 



The organism grows best in media which contain the products 

 of yeast activity, such as wine or yeast-water. When floated 

 upon the surface of wine it grows freely, though slowly; on the 

 other hand, when submerged in the mass of the wine it grows 

 very slowly indeed. In the latter case a slight surface film 

 appears before growth occurs in the fluid. This is reversed when, 

 instead of wine, yeast-water with or without glucose is employed. 

 In this medium a delicate film appears after the medium has be- 

 come turbid and a white sediment has collected at the bottom of 

 the liquid. During the course of the experiments it became 

 evident that the greater the air surface of the wine in the experi- 

 mental bottles the quicker did the turbidity appear. The in- 

 ference from this is that the bacterium in wine behaves as an 

 aerobe, and it is probable that the slight aeration which the wine 

 receives in the process of bottling stimulates the growth of the 

 organism which has been restricted by the anaerobic condition of 

 the wine in the large casks. The aerobic character was proved 

 by placing the organism under the practically anaerobic conditions 

 that obtain in Buchner's tubes (from which the oxygen is removed 

 by alkaline pyrogallate). Yeast-water inoculated with the 

 bacterium and placed under these conditions failed to produce a 

 growth. 



The temperature best suited to its development would appear 

 to be about 25° C, as growth was feeble at 17° and comparatively 

 quick at 22°. At 37° the organism refused to grow. 



