VINEGAR FERMENT AND ITS CONDITIONS OF LIFE. 29 



it under the microscope, very few of the above-mentioned bead- 

 like formations will be found, but more frequently the contracted 

 ones. By observing for hours a drop of the fluid containing the 

 ferment in an advanced state of development, the globules strung 

 together will be noticed to fall apart when at rest. Hence it may 

 be supposed that in the augmentaHon of cells by splitting, the 

 newly formed cells adhere together up to a certain stage, and 

 later on separate in the fluid when in a quiescent state. Like 



Fig. 2. 



Development of the Vinegar Ferment. The ferment is young but in full activity. 



X 500. 



every other organism the vinegar ferment only lives for a certain 

 time, and after dying, sinks below the fluid and forms upon the 

 bottom of the vessel the above-mentioned sediment. The latter 

 appears under the microscope in the same form as the living fer- 

 ment, but differs from it in being less transparent and of a 

 brownish color. The augmentation of the vinegar ferment takes 

 place very rapidly, and it will be found in a few hours after the 

 commencement of its development in all stages of life upon the 

 surface of the fluid, it being possible to distinguish cells of from 

 1.5 to 3.5 micromillimetres in size. 1 



The vinegar ferment requiring /ree oxygen for its augmentation 



1 One micromillimetre = v millimetre. 



