DISEASES OF WINE AND VINEGAR 121 



If time, the necessary and infallible judge of all the 

 productions of science, confirms, as I hope, the exactitude 

 of my work, I shall have received, Sire, the satisfaction, 

 the most enviable for a scientist, of having performed a 

 useful service to my country in responding to the desire 

 of the Emperor. 



I am, Sire, with the most profound respect, the very 

 humble and faithful servant and subject of Your Majesty. 



L. Pasteur. 



French wines suffered from several different dis- 

 eases, more or less characteristic of wines of dif- 

 ferent kinds and localities. Sometimes they be- 

 come acid; again they may become turbid, gen- 

 erate gas, and acquire a flat taste. Such wines 

 were spoken of as turned (tourne). This change 

 was particularly apt to occur after the warm 

 months of summer. One malady which was very 

 troublesome was the development of bitterness 

 (l'amertume) which was prone to attack all red 

 wines and especially those of Burgundy. Again, 

 wines may become ropy, as occurred in the wines 

 of Champagne. Pasteur's first procedure was to 

 subject wines suffering from these several diseases 

 to a microscopic examination. He found that each 

 disease was accompanied by characteristic organ- 

 isms differing from those producing normal vinous 



