238 The Minute Structure of the Vinegar Plant. 



THE MINUTE STRUCTURE OF THE VINEGAR PLANT. 



BY HENRY J. SLACK, F.G.S., 

 Member of the Microscopical Society of London. 



Among the minute organisms which puzzle the microscopist 

 the Vibrions and their relatives present great difficulties as 

 regards their structure and classification. Ehrenberg" assigned 

 an animal nature to the whole family ; but it is far more pro- 

 bable that all are, as some are known to be, vegetable, and 

 perhaps rudimentary conditions of more highly organized plants. 

 In PritchanVs History of Infusoria (fourth edition, p. 187) the 

 results of Colin's investigations are cited, and we find it laid 

 down by that naturalist that " the Vibrionia apparently all 

 belong to the vegetable kingdom, for they exhibit an intimate 

 affinity with undoubted Alga?." Dr. Burnett is also quoted in 

 the same place to the effect, that " their cell structure and their 

 vital (not voluntary) motion would lead us to infer that the 

 Vibrionia are algous plants, and not animals. This throws 

 light on several common phenomena. One in particular is 

 that the Vibrionia should almost invariably be found in infusions 

 and liquids that contain other Algaa, and especially the cqnimon 

 Torula ; for I do not remember to have seen the Torula without 

 Vibrionia." 



It affords more precision to regard Algce and Fungi as 

 distinct classes 'of the sub-kingdom Tlialloplnjtes; and tho 

 Torula, with which Dr. Burnett found the vibrions associated, 

 is ranked among the Coniomycetous Fungi, and is closely con- 

 nected with the Yeast and Vinegar Plants. 



It is not an easy question to define what is a vibrion, because 

 minute bodies more or less divided into beads may differ widely 

 in their origin, their properties, and their destination. In 

 decomposing solutions objects of this kind invariably appear, 

 and the researches of Pasteur, which are recorded, in former 

 numbers of the Intellectual Observer, and which I, therefore, 

 shall not quote at length, lead to the conclusion that all kinds 

 of fermentations and putrefactions are acts correlative with 

 the growth of these remarkable organisms ; and that their life, so 

 to speak, presides over the decay and disintegration of higher 

 animal or vegetable beings, and of the complicated products 

 which they form. 



Minute, and usually colourless, thread-like bodies of beaded 

 structure, exhibiting a wriggling or oscillating motion, and 

 destitute of organs (for the alleged filament of bacterium is 

 probably a mistake), are readily recognized as belonging to 

 the vibrion family ; but the motion, though a common property, 



