1891.] and the Organisms composing it. 263 



cane sugar, and ferments the products ; but it is unable to ferment milk 

 sugar. It forms rounded, morula-like, white colonies in gelatine, and 

 the author has separated pure cultures from these. He has also 

 studied the development and germination of the spores, which are 

 formed in 24 48 hours at suitable temperatures on porous earthen- 

 ware blocks. They also develop on gelatine. 



The technological characters have been kindly determined and 

 confirmed for the author by Mr. Horace Brown, F.R.S., and Dr. 

 Morris, of Burton-on-Trent. 



The specific Schizomycete (Bacterium vermiforme, n.sp.) has been 

 very fully studied by the author. It occurs in the fermentations as 

 rodlets or filaments, curved or straight, encased in a remarkably thick, 

 firm, gelatinous sheath, and is pronouncedly anaerobic, so much so, 

 that the best results are got by cultivating it in carbon dioxide under 

 pressure. 



The sheathed filaments are so like worms, that the name proposed 

 for the species is appropriately derived from this character. 



It will not grow on gelatine, and separation cultures had to be 

 made in saccharine liquids by the dilution methods. 



It grows best in solutions of beet-root, or of cane sugar, with re- 

 latively large quantities of nitrogenous organic matter e.g., bouillon, 

 asparagin and tartaric acid. Good results were obtained with 

 mixtures of Pasteur's solution and bouillon. 



The author found that the bacterium into which the filaments sub- 

 sequently break up can escape from its sheath and become free, in 

 which state it divides rapidly like ordinary bacteria. Eventually, all 

 the forms filaments, long rods, short rodlets break up into cocci. 

 No spores have been observed.- These changes are dependent espe- 

 cially on the nutritive medium, but are also affected by the gaseous 

 environment and the temperature. The jelly-like clumps of the so- 

 called "ginger-beer plant" are essentially composed of these sheathed 

 and coiled Schizomycetes, entangling the cells of Saccharomyces 

 pyriformis. But the action of the Schizomycete alone on the sac- 

 . charine medium differs from that exerted when it is associated with 

 the yeast, and from that exerted by the latter alone. 



This was proved by cultivating each separately, and also by culti- 

 vations in which, while each organism was submerged in the same 

 fermentable medium, they were separated by permeable porcelain 

 (Chamberland filters), through which neither could pass. 



The author has also reconstructed the " ginger-beer plant " by 

 mixing pure cultures of the above two organisms ; the Schizomycete 

 entangled the yeast-cells in its gelatinous coils, and the synthesised 

 compound organism behaved as the specimens not analysed into their 

 constituents. 



Some very curious phenomena in connexion with the formation of 



VOL. L. T 



