373 
Biff'en . — A Fat-Destroying Fungus . 
Penicillium is of especial interest in this connexion, for 
it has been shown to contain, among other enzymes, a lipase, 
which was successfully extracted by Gerard \ and shown to 
be capable of splitting monobutyrine into butyric acid and 
glycerine. 
Under these circumstances there can be little doubt that 
the disappearance of the oil from rape-seed cake, &c., is due 
to the Moulds being able to utilize it as a food-material. 
Among the Bacteria several forms are known which are 
capable of splitting fats. An example of this is afforded 
by the Bacillus fluorescens non liquefaciens of Krueger 1 2 , 
isolated from butter which had become ‘ cheesy.’ Several 
pathogenic forms, such as Bacillus typhi abdominalis, B. 
pyocyaneus , and Vibrio cholerae asiaticae , have also been 
shown by von Sommaruga 3 to possess this power. 
In order to obtain the mycelium in quantity to test for 
the presence of this supposed fat-splitting enzyme, large 
cultures were grown in flasks of sterilized coco-nut milk kept 
at a temperature of 20° C. In from eight to ten days the 
surface of the liquid was covered with a thick growth of 
mycelium and the liquid itself had become acid to litmus 
paper. In one series of flasks the milk was coloured with 
neutral litmus and infected with the conidia of the Fungus 
on Nov. 2. On Nov. 7 the purple colour had changed to 
a bright red, and a small quantity of mycelium was visible 
floating on the surface. The growth of the mycelium had 
therefore given rise to the formation of a free acid. Whether 
this was from the fat or from other constituents, such as 
sugar, remained to be proved. 
The mass of mycelium was then taken out of the flasks, 
washed rapidly in distilled water, and ground to a thin paste 
with kieselguhr and water in a Bacterium-mill, or with clean 
sand and water in mortar. On filtering this paste under 
1 Gerard, Bull. d. la Soc. Myc. d. France, t xiii, p. 182. 
2 Centrbl. f. Bakt. vii, 1890, No. 14-16, p. 87. 
3 Zeitschr. f. Hygiene, Bd. xviii, 1894, p. 441. Lafar, Technical Mycology, 
Engl, ed., p. 199. 
