438 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



merited at 66 to 77, as a rule about two to three weeks, and 

 then decanted into fresh casks, and half a gallon of 90 per 

 cent, alcohol, free from fusel-oil, and 3j ounces of tannin are 

 added to each 26^- gallons. After standing four weeks it be- 

 comes clear, and is decanted into fresh sulphurized casks, 

 and, if necessary, clarified in the usual way with isinglass. 

 The color may be deepened by sugar-color, and the quality 

 improved by the addition of glycerine, and still more by ad- 

 dition of raisins; the latter, freed from stems, being crushed, 

 boiled a quarter of an hour, and added to the fermenting 

 wine. The acidity of the product should reach 0.5 per cent., 

 to which it may be brought, if necessary, by the addition of 

 tartaric acid. 28 (7, May, 1874, 395. 



BRANDY FROM SAWDUST. 



Zetterlund, after boiling 9 cwt. of sawdust with 7 cwt. of 

 hydrochloric acid, sp. gr. 1.18, and 30.7 cwt. of water, under 

 pressure of less than 2 pounds to the inch, found 3.33 per 

 cent, of the mass to be grape sugar; and w T ith 2-j- hours of 

 further boiling, 4.38 per cent., or 19.67 per cent, of the saw- 

 dust, to be grape sugar an amount he was unable to exceed. 

 After neutralizing the acid with lime until the cooled mash 

 contained but \ per cent., according to Liidersdorff's test, at 

 86 a ferment made of 20 pounds of bruised malt was added. 

 In 96 hours fermentation was complete, and distillation afford- 

 ed 61 quarts of brandy of 50 per cent., at 59, perfectly free 

 from odor or taste of turpentine, and of very agreeable flavor. 

 He considers it probable that the process might be success- 

 ful on a large scale if the amount of water and time of boil- 

 ing (two important factors in the production of sugar) were 

 accurately determined by experiments. By conversion of 

 all the cellulose into sugar, each hundred-weight of air-dried 

 sawdust would yield at least 27.4 quarts of 50 per cent, 

 brandy. 18 (7, June 8, 1874, 399. 



PASTEUR PROCESS FOR MAKING UNALTERABLE BEER. 



Pasteur, the eminent French chemist, has recently given a 

 method for preparing an unalterable beer; that is, a beer 

 which will not turn sour or spoil upon keeping. It is im- 

 portant to consider two facts as preliminary to this process. 

 In the first place, says Pasteur, all the objectionable changes 



