THK ()J:1(;IN of the SAa/HAHOMVcKTKS. 105 



the sjiiup tinj»* the ojijioitunity will be utilised for ilefiniup the 

 liinitutiuiis ami luiitiial relation of the teiUiK .Siiccluiromyces, 

 l)iiil(lin;jf fmigi, an<l yeast. 



•^ 244.— The Question of the Orig-in of the 

 Saccharomycetes. 



For some years after they had lieen recofjiiised as living 

 organisuLS (§ 12) the cells forming the chief constituent ot 

 beer yeast, wine yeast, and pressed yeast, had to be content 

 with a position in a corner of the botanical system. Occur- 

 ring as a rule in the unicellular form, or at most in aggrega- 

 tions of uniform meml>ers, they otfere<l little imlucement for 

 the attention of the systematist. Meyen and Schwann bestowed 

 on them the new generic name, SacrliaionnjieK {i. 13). and 

 I'elegated them to the fungoid kingdom. On the other hand, 

 Kuetzing located them among the algie, under the name Crt/fto- 

 rnrciis, for the very cogent leason that he failed to discover 

 in them the formation of hypha?, which is characteristic of the 

 fungi. Although the views of the two first-named ob-servers 

 afterwards prevailed, and consequently the yeasts were recog- 

 nised as belonging to the fungi, it was at first diliicult U^ find 

 suital)le accommodation for them within the limits of this king- 

 <lom, no allied species being known with which they could 

 be associated. In tiiis emergency these and a few other similar 

 fungi were cla.ssed together in a new group, namely that of the 

 Jifati/imii/nfeii (budding fungi), which was interjK>lated as an 

 intermediate link between the sub-kingdom of the fission fungi 

 on the one hantl and that of all the other fungi on the other. 

 The desire, which then .scnin arose, to find a connection between 

 this outside grouj) and an order of the sub-kingdom Eumycetes, 

 was then-fore not an artificial one, biit in harmony with exist- 

 ing circumst;inc»'s and fully justified. The manner, however, of 

 elYecting the gratification of this desire, and also the unscientific 

 .standpoint adopted as the basis of procedure, cannot be termed 

 praiseworthy. 



From the explanation given in the intrtnluctiiin to \'ol. i. 

 the reatler is aware that the discoverv of veast as a living 

 organism was coincident with a perio<l when the dispute alxiut 

 primary origin raged very briskly. Now the yeast cell wa.s one 

 of the favourite objects of the attempt to prove the luigin 

 of orjjani.sed from unor^ranised bixlies. When, thanks to the 

 labours of Pasteur and others, the theory in «piestion was finally 

 driven out of the realm of the exact sciences, many of it^ 

 adherentxS considered an unconditii>nal surremler was too much 

 to be expected of them ; and in onler to preserve a little of 

 the conception, they assumed that, even if the parentless origin 



