Abstract
BACTERIAL idiosyncrasies are now so familiar and so numerous, that it is difficult for us to be taken unawares any more by the whims and peculiarities of these groups of lowly organisms. Mr. and Mrs. Veley have, however, succeeded in discovering an oddity which, even in this remarkable community, stands out in relief. Whilst studying the causes of faulty rum, these investigators have come upon an organism which, in its lust for sugar, will brave the untoward surroundings of a liquid containing over 70 per cent, of alcohol. This is an unheard-of feat amongst these low forms of life. To enable it to indulge in sugar in such environment, this organism surrounds itself with a gelatinous envelope which, whilst permitting it to obtain its favourite food-stuff, protects it from the deleterious effect of the alcohol, and these characteristics have been embodied in the name Coleothrix methystes selected for it by its discoverers—Koλεós, a sheath, μεθυσтńs a drunkard. Unfortunately for spirit distillers, this organism elects to dwell in rum, producing, according to Mr. and Mrs. Veley, a change in the spirit which, under the title of “faulty rum,” occasions losses of some thousands of pounds annually to manufacturers. The life-history of this said Coleothrix methystes is by no means an easy one to trace; in fact, the various phases through which it is said to pass embracing such transformations as coccus to rod, coccus to filament, and filament to coccus forms, leave its identity still open to speculation and further inquiry; indeed, as the authors themselves modestly remark, “a subject of legitimate controversy.” Whatever may be the results of such legitimate controversy, only praise is due to the authors for the conscientious care and the great labour they have bestowed upon this most difficult piece of work; and, doubtless, now investigators have been started in this direction, many will be stimulated to travel over the same ground, and further extend our knowledge on such an interesting and novel subject as the possibilities of life in liquids containing such a high percentage of alcohol.
The Micro-organism of Faulty Rum.
By V. H. Veley Lilian J. Veley née ( Gould). Pp. 64. (London: Henry Frowde, 1898.)
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FRANKLAND, G. The Micro-organism of Faulty Rum. Nature 59, 339 (1899). https://doi.org/10.1038/059339c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/059339c0