SILAGE-BACTERIA, FERMENTATION OF TOBACCO, INDIGO, FLAX, ETC. 257 



('95)- WINOGRADSKY, SERGius. Sur le rouissage du 

 lin et son agent tnicrobien. C. R. des se, de 

 1'Acad. des sci., Paris, 1895, T. cxxi, pp. 

 74^-745- 



A rsum of the principal results of work doue by 

 Fribes iu Wiuogradsky's laboratory. 



1. Stems sterilized under water'by a short heating at 

 100, repeated three days in succession, or by one heating 

 at 115 for fifteen minutes, did not become retted. 



2. Sterilized flax immersed in water and inoculated 

 with any one of the maerobic and anaerobic organisms, 

 first isolated from the macerations by means of gelatin 

 plates, did not undergo, even after several mouths, a 

 commencement of retting, nor was any liberation of gas 

 noticed. On the contrary 



3. If into tubes of water containing sterilized flax a 

 small hit of straw of misterilized flax was thrown a 

 very active fermentation commenced at the end of 12 to 

 15 hours, and at the end of two or three days the retting 

 was completed. 



The specific organism was obtained for study from suc- 

 cessive cultures upon steam -sterilized flax, protected 

 from the air by immersion in deep tubes full of water, 

 whose surface was covered by a layer of oil. After a long 

 enough series of re-sowing under these same conditions, 

 the microscopic study of these cultures has removed all 

 doubt about the agent of this fermentation. It is found 

 almost pure in the interior of the stem, and Fribes has 

 succeeded iu isolating it in a completely pure state by 

 cultivating it, in the absence of air, upon slices of cooked 

 potato rubbed with chalk. It is a bacillus relatively 

 large, forming spores in the terminal swellings (tadpole 

 form). In the young state its rods are from 10 to 15 m 

 long, with a th'ickuess of 0.8 M; often one finds articu- 

 lated filaments much longer ; thev become later a little 

 thicker { i ju), and form then ovoid swellings 3 ^ long by 

 2 n thick ; the ovoid spore which is formed there is 1.8 j* 

 by 1.2 ft. Sterilized flax was retted in pure cultures of 

 this bacillus, and, after undergoing the successive opera- 

 tions of grinding (dressing) peeling and combing, yielded 

 a fine silky flax of light color but a little too much retted 

 and without consistence. 



In a general study of the bacteria of retting, Fribes dis- 

 covered the following facts : 



1. The bacillus ferments glucose, cane-sugar, milk- 

 sugar, and starch, but only when the liquid contains pep- 

 tone. With ammonia as the only source of nitrogen, the 

 bacillus is absolutely void of action on these eminently 

 fermentable substances. 



2. Pectic matters, pectine, or pectic acid, extracted 

 from flax, pears, carrots, white turnips, pure as they 

 can be prepared, are decomposed, in presence of an am- 

 monium salt as the sole nitrogenous food, with an extra- 

 ordinary facility. 



3. Cellulose, under the form of Swedish filter paper, 

 or as an amorphous precipitate, can absolutely not he 

 attacked by this bacillus. Gum arable is not fermented. 



4. Vegetable substance, from flax, white turnips, ex- 

 tracted cold by pure water and water slightly acid and 

 alkaline, and submitted to fermentation by this bacillus, 

 loses the greater part of the substances which are esti- 

 mated as pectic matter ; also the loss of weight of the 

 fermented substance corresponds sensibly to the content 

 in pectic matter of the nufermented substance. 



As a result of these studies Winogradsky concludes that 

 the retting of flax may be considered as a pectic fermen- 

 tation in the micro-biological sense of the word, of which 

 the bacillus described is the specific agent. 



1/96). TOI,OMEI, Giuiyio. Ueber die Fermentation der 

 Oliven und die Oxydation des Olivenoles. 

 Atti R. Acad. dei Lincei Roma, se. v, Rendi- 

 conti, Classe sci. fis., matem. e nat., vol. V, 

 Feb. 16, 1896, pp. 122-129. 

 Due to an enzyme. Not bacterial. 



('96). VAN LOOKEREN-CAMPAGNE, C. J., y. VAN DER 

 VEEN, P. J. Ueber Indigpbildung aus 

 Pflanzen der Gattttng "Indigo fera." D. 

 landw. Vers.-Stat., 1896, Bd. XLVI, pp. 249- 

 258- 



('97). CONRAD, EUGEN. Bakteriologische und chem- 

 ische studien iiber Sauerkrautgahrung. 

 Arch. f. Hyg., Bd. xxix, 1897, pp. 56-9$- 

 See also Zeitschr. f. Spiritusindustrie, xx 

 Jahrg., 1897, No. 23, p. 188; No. 24, pp. 



2OO-2OI. 



The fermentation of the " Weisskraut " is attributed to 

 Bacterium brassica; acidse, Lehm. Conrad, nearly re- 

 lated to Bacillus coli. This organism is motile, grows 

 aerobically and anaerobically, produces acids, carbon 

 dixoide, hydrogen and marsh gas. Gelatin is not liquefied. 

 The surface colonies are gray white to gray yellow on 

 gelatin and agar, and are bright yellow on potato. It 

 ferments maltose, lactose and dextrose. Most of the acid 

 is lactic acid. 



('98). BREAUDAT, L. Sur le mode de formation de 



I'indigo dans les procedes d'extraction in- 



dustriels. Fonctions disastasiques des 



plantes indigpferes. C. R. des se. de 1'Acad. 



des sci., Paris, 1898, T. cxxvn, pp. 769-771. 

 ('98). MOLISCH. Ueber die sogenannte Indigogahr- 



ung und neue Indigopflanzen. Sitzungsber. 



d. k. Akad. der Wiss. in Wien, July, 1898. 



Title only. 



('98). PRESCOTT AND UNDERWOOD. See xx. 

 ('99). BREAUDAT. Nouvelles recherches sur les fonc- 



tions diastasiques des plantes indigoferes. C. 



R. des se. de 1'Acad. des sci., Paris, T. 



cxxvni, 1899, pp. 1,478-1,480. 

 ('99). VERNHOUT, J. H. Onderzoek over bacterien 



bij de fermentatie der tabak. Mededeelingen 



uit s'Lands Plantentuin, xxxiv, Batavia, G. 



Kolff & Co., 1809, p. 49, 2 plates. 



The fermentation of tobacco is ascribed to Bacillus 

 tabaci-fermentationis Vernhout. 



('99). LoEw, OSCAR. Curing and fermentation of 

 cigar leaf tobacco. U. S. Dept. of Agric., 

 Report No. 59, Div. Veg. Phys. & Path., 

 34 PP- 



('oo). LOEW, OSCAR. Sind Bakterien die Ursache 

 der Tabakfer.menta'tion ? Centralb. f. Bakt., 

 2 Abt., Bd. vi, 1900, pp. 108-112. 

 The fermentation is strictly enzymic, and bacteria are 

 not concerned in it. 



('oo). LoEW, OSCAR. Physiological Studies of Con- 

 necticut leaf tobacco. U. S. Dept. of Agric., 

 Div. of Veg. Phys. & Path., 1900. Report 

 65. 57 PP- 



Coo). BEIJERINCK. Verdere onderzoekingen over de 

 indigovorming uit weedl (Isatis tinctoria). 

 Proc. K. Akad. Wetensch. Amsterdam, Deel 

 ix, June 30, 1900, pp. 74-90. Abstr. in Bot. 

 Zekung, 2 Abt., vol. 58, 1900, col. 188-189. 



The production of indigo blue is due to the action of 

 the enzyme isatase upon isatan. Isatan occurs m the 

 protoplasm ; isatase occurs in the chromatophores. In 

 the living cell the author thinks reactions are prevented 

 by the acidity of the cell-sap. He says : The action of 

 isatase upon isatan is possible only in neutral or ampho- 

 teric and very weakly acid solutions." A temperature of 

 48 to 50 C. is the optimum for this action. 



Coi) LOEW, OSCAR. Catalase, a new enzym of gen- 

 eral occurrence, with special reference to the 

 tobacco plant. U. S. Dept. of Agric. Rep. 

 69, Div. Veg. Phys. & Path., 1901, 47 PP- 

 ('oi). RUSSELL, H. L., AND BABCOCK, S. M. Concern- 

 ing the theories of silage formation. Science, 

 n. s., vol. xni, p. 328, 1901. 



The conclusion reached is that bacteria do not play 

 any very considerable role in the fermentation of silage. 



('oi) PREYER, AXEL. Ueber Kakaofermemation. 



Tropenpflanzer, Berlin, Bd. v, 1901, pp. 157- 



173. 

 ('oi) SCHULTE IM HoFE, A. Zur Kakao-Fermenta- 



tion. Tropenpflanzer, Berlin, 1901, Bd. v, 



pp. 225-227. 



