[Vol. 6 



96 ANNALS OF THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN 



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THE RELATION OF BACTERIA TO CELLULOSE FERMENTATION 



The fact that certain microorganisms have the power to dis 

 solve cellulose has been known for some time. The actual de 

 termination of the forms involved and a better understandin 

 of the process resulted from more recent investigations. 



Mitscherlich ('50) first noted that the cellulose in the cell 

 walls of slices of potato was dissolved when the slices were 

 immersed in water and kept in a warm place for several days. 

 A few years later attention was called by Haubner to the fact 

 that it was impossible to recover more than 50 per cent of the 

 crude fiber fed to ruminants. This observation was soon con- 

 firmed by numerous other workers, but the agent causing this 

 reduction was unknown at that time. It has been recently 

 demonstrated by Ellenberger ('15) and others that cellulose- 

 dissolving ferments could not be extracted from the intestines 

 of herbivorous animals, nor could any such ferments be ob- 

 tained from the walls of the stomach or any of the secretive 

 glands. The fungous flora of the intestines, however, showed 

 numerous cellulose-dissolving organisms. 



Some ten years after Haubner's discovery Trecul ('65) de- 

 scribed a new genus, Amylobacter, which he found in connec- 

 tion with macerated plant tissues. Following this work numer- 

 ous other workers described what they thought to be new 

 forms. Thus we find Bacterium navicula of Reinke and Ber- 

 thold (79), the hydrogen and methane ferments of Omelianski, 

 Clostridium polymyxa, Vibrio rugula, Clostridium butyricum 

 of Prazmowski ('80), and others, all having the power to dis- 

 solve cellulose. At first there was considerable confusion re- 

 garding the validity of these forms. Van Tieghem ('7 

 working on Trecul's Amylobacter, found it to be a motile rod 

 and called it Bacillus amylobacter. Prazmowski ( '80) re- 

 garded his Clostridium butyricum as synonymous with Vibrion 

 butyrique Pasteur, Amylobacter Trecul, Bacillus amylobac- 

 ter Van Tieghem, and Bacterium navicula Reinke and Ber- 

 thold. The work of Omelianski ('95, '97, '02, '04) greatly 

 contributed to a clearer conception of the causative organisms 

 in cellulose fermentation and a better understanding of the 

 processes involved. 



