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organism which is developed in company with the ferment-cells 

 in fluids undergoing the alcoholic fermentation, and whose 

 presence in the alcoholic fermentation of wort appears to be as 

 universal a phenomenon as that of the ferment-cells themselves. 



It consists of rigid filaments, apparently destitute of spon- 

 taneous motion, except a slight vibration, manifestly molecular ; 

 these filaments are at first straight, but afterwards become, 

 for the most part, abruptly bent at an obtuse angle, generally 

 at about a third of their length. They correspond nearly with 

 the genus Bacterium, as defined by Ehrenberg, and though 

 Ehrenberg's definition may, perhaps, not strictly apply to 

 them, it would seem more advisable to place them in the 

 genus Bacterium than to construct for them a new one. The 

 bodies in question possess considerable resemblance to the 

 Bacterium termo of Dujardin : from this animalcule, how- 

 ever, they differ in their greater length in proportion to their 

 breadth ; in their entirely uniform diameter ; in the angular 

 bend presented by the full-grown filament ; in the total ab- 

 sence of all trace of transverse divisions in the mature, indi- 

 viduals ; and in being entirely deprived of locomotion. The 

 peculiar circumstances under which the Bacterium of the alco- 

 holic fermentation is developed, suggested the specific name 

 of cerevisioe, under which the author proposed to designate it. 



Bacterium cerevisice is one of the first distinct organisms that 

 shows itself in the fermentable fluid ; it appears^anterior to the 

 ferment-cell, and precedes all sensible fermentation. It is it- 

 self, however, preceded by excessively minute, spherical cor- 

 puscles, and its formation was distinctly traced to the union 

 in a rectilineal series of several of these corpuscles, originally 

 quite distinct from one another. Ehrenberg explains the forma- 

 tion of the chain-like filaments of the Vibrionidfe by the sup- 

 position of the imperfect self-division of an original monadic 

 element. The origin of Bacterium cerevisiae, however, is cer- 

 tainly such as is here described, and this organism is, therefore, 

 truly compound. The excessive minuteness of the monadic 

 element of the Bacterium renders it impossible to form a sa- 



