1034 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



previously treated with methyl, etliyl, propyl, or octyl alcohols, glycol, 

 or glycerol, it yields to water coagulable albumin, but if treated with 

 isopropyl alcohol, or butyl or isobutyl alcohol, it yields only non- 

 coagalable albumin to water. 



The yeast which has been deprived of its nitrogenous matter is 

 greatly modified in appearance, dimensions, and vitality. Sometimes 

 it is killed, but in many cases it revives easily when placed in sac- 

 charine musts. The abnormal secretion of nitrogenous substances 

 under the influence of strong saline solutions is correlative with an 

 increased production of soluble ferment. All the varieties of yeast 

 which produce inversion behave in the same way, and give an 

 abundant secretion of albumin and invcrtin or sucrase, but thoso 

 which do not cause inversion behave quite differently, and yield no 

 more albumin to saline solutions than to pure water. The same 

 behaviour is observed in the case of inversive and non-inversivo 

 moulds. 



It would seem, therefore, that the inversive power of a yeast or 

 mould is intimately connected with the readiness with which its 

 membrane permits the passage of albuminoids. 



Gum-ferment in Barley and Malt.*— Herr J. Gaunersdorfer 

 finds the " gum-ferment " of Wiesner f in various kinds of barley 

 and malt, especially in the testa, the parenchyma of the pericarp, and 

 in the bast-fibre-like elements of the palese. In malts, Wiesner's 

 characteristic reaction for this substance, a blue precipitate with 

 orcin and hydrochloric acid, is obscured by the malt-diastase being 

 coloured red, brown, and finally yellow, by the same reagents. 



Acetic Ferment which forms Cellulose.} — Mr. A. J. Brown 

 obtained pure cultivations of the peculiar acetic ferment known as 

 the " vinegar-plant " or " mother " (for which he suggests the name 

 Bacterium xylinum) by a combination of the frictional and dilution 

 methods, and by growing it on solid gelatin. The plant gives rise 

 to a membranous growth, in all sorts of conditions, a form which 

 B. aceti never assumes. Moreover, B. xylinum gives all the reactions 

 of cellulose, which the former does not. The fermentative actions 

 are similar in the two forms. When treated with H. Miiller's bromine 

 method, the membranous growth leaves a film of pure cellulose. 

 Experiments show that the vinegar-plant forms its cellulose from 

 dextrose ; neither cane-sugar, starch, nor ethylic alcohol are converted 

 into this substance. The plant gives rise to a double action, viz. 

 the production of gluconic acid, and the formation of cellulose. 

 Mannitol and laevulose are also converted into cellulose by this plant. 



Microbe of Nitrification. § — M. J. B. Schnetzler collected the 

 efflorescence of calcium nitrate on a wall exposed to nitrogenous 



* Allg. Zeitschr. f. Bierbranerei u. Malzfabrication, 188G, Nos. 3 and 4. See 

 Bot. Centralbl., xxvii. (1886) p. 39. 

 t See this Journal, ante, p. 106. 

 % Journ. Ohem. Soc. Lond., xlix. (1886) pp. 432-9. 

 § Arch. Sci. Phys. et Nat., xvi. (1886) pp. 73-4. 



