THK CAKJiUUVJ.KATK OKOUl' 



/ / 



KowsKi (\'.) that the if>iilu.' left iiftfr lixiviiitiiig veast with 

 dilute caustic potiisli \ ieMt-d no further j^'uuj on " prolonged 

 boiling; thus proving that, with a uioro jKiWerful solvent tlwn 

 mere water, the whole of the yeast guiu can he e.\tr;ieted at one 

 openition. This, however, tloes not solve the prol.lem with 

 regaitl to the location of this unicinous substance; nor at 

 present is any reliable information avaihible as to the seiit of 

 the pentosjins, which were detecteil, to tiie extent of 2 to 3 

 per cent, (referred U) the dry residue) in i>oth top- and Ujttom- 

 fennentition yeast, by Hessexland (I.), with the furfural 

 methotl. 



Sciii KTZEXHEUOKii (1.) found in yeast extmct a gum, which 

 proved convertible, by hydrolysis, into a redticing sugar. The 

 conclusion that this carbohytlmte is an arabin is opposed by the 

 further report that the same was converted, liy b.jiling nitric acid, 

 into a mixture of oxalic and mucic acids. From this behaviour 

 it is probjible that he had to do with a galactane. At all events 

 the amount of carbon fouml. namely 4J.7 per cent., does not 

 correspond with the formula C^;11,„0,' 



H. Mkissneu (II.) has described a luimber of budtling fungi, 

 whidi, when sown in wine mu.st, convert the .sjime into an 

 oleaginous ropy liquid, by the aid of a mucinous sub.stJince, the 

 composition and method of formation of which are .still un- 

 known. Whereas until very recently the ropiness of beer and 

 wine h.is been attributed almo.st exclusively to bacterial activity 

 (.^ 164), this worker succeeded in .showing' that this malady can 

 also be induced by budding fungi. He subjecte<l nine' such 

 species to accurate examination, several of them having been 

 i.solated by hini.solf from ropy wines and the mucinous exudation 

 from plane trees, whilst the remainder were i.solate*! bv J. 

 Wortmann as pure cultures fronj the flora of old l)ottled wines. 

 They are incapable of a.sc'osporulation or of pro«lucing alcohol, 

 and therefore do not belong to the family of true Surr/,ar(>mir,f,-jt, 

 In a later paragraph mention will be made of the circumsUinces 

 under which they become a .source of danger. 



The gummy substance.s leferred to in the foregoing lines 

 make their appearance in quantity more particularly when the 

 fermentjitive activity of the cells h":us drawn to a clos'e. In this 

 event, whether as a result of the swelling of the invariably 

 mucinou.s outer layer oi the membrane, or of an excretion from 

 the interior, the mucinous envelopes develojied by the individual 

 cells coale.sce to a sort of honeycomb in which the cells appear 

 embedded. 'J'hese formations were first tO.served bv E. Cu. 

 IIaxskx (X.), who gave them the name "gelatinous network." 

 They were found in the so-called yeast ring and in the films 

 (ji 246) on old cultures of ^^arrftarotni/reteji and a few other 

 building fungi, grown in nutrient solution.s. They jtre also not 

 infrequent in the inoculation streaks that have been drawn on 

 yoL. u. jj 



