VINOUS FERMENTATION. 23 



VI. 



A Memoir on Vinous Fermentation: by Cit. Thenard *. 



1 HE vinous fermentation has hitherto received more atten- The vinous fet" 



tion than the acetous or putrid, not perhaps that it has any ^J^njed to°be. 



thing in it more remarkable, or more worthy of our confidera-caufemoft ufe- 



tion, but becaufe it is in the natural order of things, to take * 



more intereft and fet more value on what is of moft immediate 



Utility. 



The date of the difcovery of the vinous fermentation ap- Known tothe 



pears too welleftabliaied to be called in queftion. AUhiftorians "™°? ^""^°' 

 *^ . . , , nations, 



agree in laying, that the molt ancient nations knew how to 



prepare fpirituous drinks. It afcends therefore to the remoteft 

 times ; and, if we pay any credit to the poets, we muft carry 

 it back to the fabulous ages. Indeed it would be furprifing, Its phenomena 

 if it efcaped the notice of the earlieft of men. An ebullition ^ ^' ' * 



arifing fpontaneoufly in a liquid, a whole mafs riiing of itfelf, 

 a fweet liquor becoming vinous, the change of a faccharine 

 matter into an ardent fpirit, are all extraordinary things, cal- 

 culated to ftrike the attention, and awaken the defire of tracing 

 them to their firft caufes. Accordingly there is no phenomenon ^^^ have led t« 

 more early obferved, and none that has been the fubje6t of ^^[5. 

 more confideration, or has given birth to more experiments; 

 yet, from one of thofe contrafts that rarely occur in the annals hitherto little 

 of fcience, though it has been the mofl ftudied, there is not ^"^^"* 

 perhaps one, with which we are lefs acquainted. It has been Alichemifts 

 a rock, on which the endeavours of chemifts in all ages have explain it» 

 fplit. Becher, fo celebrated for his fubterranean phyfics, Siahl, 

 the Neftor of the ancient chemiftry, Boerhaave, whofe ideas 

 were fo great, Rouelle, to whom fcience is indebted for part 

 of the progrefs it has made during the laft half century, and 

 Macquer, that mafter in the art of writing, all failed in their 

 attempts to penetrate this myftery of nature. Lavoilier, who except Lavoifier 

 was capable of furmounting the greateft obftacles, is the only tmt^rog^iX 

 perfon, who, enlightening the whole fphere of chemiftry by it. 

 his genius, travelled this obfcure path without wandering out 

 of his road. His inquiries into fermentation will ever remain His inveftlgation 

 a model of vegetable analyfis. In this, as in every thing elfe vege^blf ^alv- 



* Annals de Chimie, June 1803. p. 294. 

 Vol. VII.— Janu.\iiy, 1804. D ke 



