78 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



J. Borsch ^^ observed a fungus which morphologically resembled 

 Micrococcus viscosus of Pasteur, which occurred in beer wort which 

 became first thick and oily and finally viscid and ropy. 



Lindner ** in 1889 obtained in pure culture a pedio-coccus which 

 occurred in large numbers in ropy white beer. This organism was 

 unable to produce sliminess in hopped worts and beers and could only 

 produce this affection in white beer wort. 



Van Laer*° isolated three organisms, named Bacillus viscosus I 

 and II, and B. viscosus Bruxellensis, from hopped beer. 



Vandam *® obtained from ropy English beer a pure culture of an 

 organism {Bacillus viscosus III) in which the ropiness was produced 

 by the thickened cell membrane of the organism. The degree of ropi- 

 ness was proportional to the amount of sugar eliminated. 



It is also well known that certain Eumycetes *^ are capable of pro- 

 ducing viscid wort; for example, the fungus Dematium pullulans. 



Erom the above review it will be seen that ropy milk is a fairly 

 common occurrence and is produced by a large number of organisms. 

 During the last few years the writer has met with a number of bacteria 

 producing sliminess, which were isolated from milk, beer, stable air, 

 etc. The biology of these organisms was not fully worked out at the 

 time of isolation; but some time later they were the subject of an inves- 

 tigation, which included a comparison with certain species which have 

 been already mentioned. Some twelve species, or varieties of species, 

 were the subject of study, as follows: — 



1. Bacillus lactis viscosus. Adametz. Obtained from Krai's laboratory, 



Frag, Austria. 



2. Bacillus from slimy milk. Obtained from JDr. del^'reudenreich's labor- 



atory, iJern, (Switzerland. 



3. Bacillus found to be the cause of slimy beer. Harrison. 



This organism was isolated from several lots of slimy beer 

 obtained from a large brewery in Guelph. This trouble continued 

 for over three months in the brewery and caused considerable loss. 

 The organism was also isolated from the malt, which was of rather 

 inferior quality, as the barley had sprouted slightly before being taken 

 from the held. 



4. Marshall's bacillus of slimy milk. Obtained from Frof. Marshall, Agri- 



cultural College, Michigan, U.S.A. 



5. Ward's bacillus of slimy milk. Obtained from Dr. Ward, then at Cornell 



University, Ithaca, N.Y., U.S.A. 



The above five organisms constitute what will be later referred to 

 as Group I. 



6. Bacillus which produced slimy milk. Isolated from stable air. Har- 



rison. 



In 1902, whilst searching for the source of bitter yeast {Torula 

 amara), the stable air of some SU farmers was examined and this 

 organism was abundant in the air of one of these stables." 



