ROPINESS IN WINE 217 



species of bacteria is prevented. This accounts for the circumstance that Tset- 

 maelk will keep for months without alteration if stored at a low temperature. 



Herz was the first to record observations with regard to so-called soapy 

 milk, a term applied by him to milk that exhibits a taste of soap and lye, and 

 does not curdle, but only deposits a slimy sediment, even after prolonged 

 standing. The cream from this milk froths up very strongly when churned. 

 H. WEIGMANN and G. ZIRN (II.) had occasion, in 1893, to examine a milk of 

 this kind, and they succeeded in isolating therefrom a bacillus which is capable 

 of converting normal milk into the soapy condition, and is therefore termed 

 Bacillus lactis saponacvi. It was afterwards discovered that the organism 

 originated in the litter, which was in a damaged condition. When that was 

 withdrawn and the cows littered on sound straw, the milk no longer suffered 

 from this complaint. 



164. Ropiness in Wine 



was formerly attributed to a coagulation of the albuminoids, a hypothesis corrected 

 in 1856 by G. MULDER (II.), who traced the chief source of this malady to the 

 conversion of sugar into vegetable mucilage. Young white wines, in parti- 

 cular, fall victims to the disease, which in its incipient stage produces a faint 

 opalescence, followed by gradually increasing turbidity, until, finally, the liquid 

 becomes thick, and by degrees so viscid that it can be drawn out into threads a 

 yard or so in length, and can scarcely be poured out of the bottle. The flavour 

 is disagreeably slimy and insipid, though the odour (bouquet) is almost un- 

 altered. In France the malady is termed " Maladie de la graisse" or generally 

 " Vinfilant " or " Vin huileux," and the Italians style it " Vino Jilante." The 

 earliest microscopical studies on this point were made in 1861 by PASTEUR (XII.), 

 who found a very large number of fission fungi always present in ropy wine, and 

 also that by transferring a little of the liquid to sound wine of the same class 

 the disease was quickly communicated to the latter. He described two kinds of 

 cell form : small cocci united in chains (streptococci), and irregularly shaped cells 

 somewhat larger in diameter than those of yeast. The chief products of the 

 mucinous fermentation set up in wine by this mixture of organisms were found 

 to be gum, mannite, and carbon dioxide. Their ratio was represented by 

 Pasteur in the form of an equation as follows : 



25Cj 2 H2. 2 O u + 25H 2 = izC^HaoOjo + 24C 6 H 14 O 6 + I2C0 2 + I2H 2 0. 

 Saccharose. Gum. Maunite. 



These proportions were admittedly variable, but this was explained by 

 Pasteur by the supposition that the one species of ferment produces more 

 mannite, the other more gum ; and Monoyer, in 1862, attempted to represent 

 these reactions by splitting up the equation into two. Some observations on the 

 aforesaid streptococcus have also been published by E. DUCLAUX (X.). 



The thoroughgoing microscopical investigations performed by J. NESSLER (II. ) 

 showed that the streptococci described by Pasteur are frequently absent, or only 

 present in very small numbers, in ropy wine ; whereas, on the other hand, 

 the presence of certain unusually plentiful, extremely minute round bodies can 

 always be detected. Subsequently a few samples of ropy wines were examined 

 by E. KRAMER (II.), mainly with the object of obtaining pure cultures of the 

 organisms causing the malady, but this object has not yet been successfully 

 accomplished. By means of the dilution method approximately pure cultures 

 of such a fission fungus have been prepared ; and the name of Bacillus viscosus 

 vini has been given to the organism. It occurs in the form of rods, 0.6-0.8 /* 

 broad and 2-6 p, long, frequently united as many-jointed chains, and capable of 

 producing ropiness in white wines in the absence of air. A thorough mycological 



