DISEASES OF WINE AND VINEGAR 123 



sufficed to kill all of these troublesome living fer- 

 ments. There was a natural prejudice against heat- 

 ing wines, but the treatment in no wise injured 

 their flavor nor interfered with the slow process of 

 ageing which Pasteur showed was due largely to 

 oxidation. Once the cause of the trouble was 

 known the remedy, as in so many other cases, was 

 much more readily thought of. 



A Commission was formed to try out the results 

 of the new treatment. Five hundred liters of 

 wine, placed aboard an outgoing vessel at Brest, 

 were divided into two parts, one half being heated, 

 and the other half left in the usual manner. After 

 the return of the vessel from a ten months' cruise 

 the heated wine was found to be in excellent flavor, 

 while the non-heated wine was astringent and acid, 

 and in a fair way to be soon entirely spoiled. 

 Other trials turned out in much the same way, and 

 soon the practice of heating became very prevalent 

 and proved to be the means of enormous savings 

 to the wine industries of France. In 1867 a jury 

 of the Universal Exposition offered Pasteur a grand 

 prize for his services to the wine industry. These 

 successful efforts to check the diseases of wines 

 evoked the gratitude of the Emperor who expressed 

 surprise that Pasteur had not taken advantage of 



