Note 84 — Chapter V · The Alcoholic Ferments.

The principal result of Dr. Rees’ labours consists in the discovery of a sporulation peculiar to yeast cells, that is to say, to a formation in the interior of these cells, and under particular conditions—such as when the growth occurs on slices of cooked potatoes, carrots, &c.—of two, three, or four smaller cells, which, when placed in fermentable liquids, act like the germinating spores of ferments. The mother-cell may be regarded as an ascus, and the daughter-cells as ascospores, and so the genus saccharomyces may be classified among the group of fungi termed ascomycetes. These facts have been frequently confirmed, notably by Dr. Engel, professor of the Faculty of Medicine, at Nancy. Previously to Dr. Rees’ discovery, M. de Seynes (Comptes rendus, t. lxvii., 1868) had described an endogenous formation of spores in mycoderma vini, particularly in the elongated cells, followed by the rupture of the mother-cell, and subsequent absorption of cell-walls and other contents after the issue of the endospores, which we have just termed ascospores. We ourselves had also previously called attention to those refractive corpuscles which appear amongst vibrios as probably being reproductive corpuscles, and we had likewise witnessed the reabsorption of the parts surrounding them. The plate on page 228 of our “Studies on the Silkworm Disease” represents the phenomena in question.