FERMENTS AND ARTIFICIAL FERMENTATIONS. 177 
circumstances, Mycoderma vini can produce alcoholic 
fermentation ; this is easily shown by adding it to a 
saccharine solution, in which it soon produces fermenta- 
tion. It appears on the surface of all alcoholic liquids 
which are exposed to the air, when fermentation is 
over or nearly over. Its growth is very rapid ; a few 
cells are enough to cover the surface in the course of 
forty-eight hours with a thin white or yellow pel- 
licle, which is at first smooth, and then wrinkled. This 
implies, according to Engel’s estimate, that a single 
cell has produced 35,000 others in this short time. 
Most of these different forms are probably only 
different stages of development of a limited number 
of species, since ferments are as polymorphic as 
microscopic fungi. 
We have said that before they are found in the 
must of wine or fruits, the ferments fasten in a 
dormant state on the epidermis of the fruit, by which 
means they are introduced into the liquid about to be 
fermented. We see how the spores are transported 
through the air until they rest on the downy surface 
of a drupe or berry. But it has been asked what 
becomes of this ferment between last year’s vintage 
and the succeeding summer, and in what way it 
passes the winter. 
According to Hansen’s researches, Sacch. apiculata, 
which is, for instance, found upon gooseberries, is 
washed off them by the rain, dispersed by the wind, 
and falls to the ground with the fruit, where it 
