572 Mr. A. Gordon Salamcm [March 29, 



mercial standpoint, it may. so far as tliis conntry alone is concerned, 

 most nndonbtedly be estimated by millions sterling : and when all 

 those problems which have arisen ont of the investigation — and 

 which have of necessity been taken in hand by others — shall have 

 been solved, it will be found that the saving due to it will have 

 reached a total which, in terms of potmds, shillings, and pence, would 

 appear truly colossal. 



For this to be possible, yeast must have a very important role to 

 perform in connection with certain of our industries, and indeed is 

 used in quantity which is really somewhat astonishing when the figures 

 are cast up for the first time. 



I have endeavoured, with the assistance of my friends, Mr. Ban- 

 nister. Deputy Priucipal of the Laboratory of Somerset House, and 

 Mr. Frank Wilson, the head brewer to Messrs. Combe and Co., to 

 calculate the amount of yeast (reckoned as pressed dry yeast ) which is 

 annually produced and used in the United Kingdom. The results are 

 given in the following table, the figures of which, though in some cases 

 necessarily estimated, may, I think, be regarded as very nearly accurate. 



Yeast AxxrALLv Used axd Peoduced in the United Kingdom. 

 (Calcnlated as Pressed Yeast.) 

 In Erc-ir,-:— Tons. 



Used for '^ Pitching " 4,250 



Produced in addition to above * 25.500 Ton*. 



29.750 



In DisUU'i\:-~ 



Used for "Pitching" 3,100 



/n Vimgar-makinj — 



Used in " PitcLdng " and produced 125 



In Bakiri'j — 



Used for making " Sponge " t 14,000 



Total 46.975 



* Mainly employed for use in foreign distilleries, and having 

 value to brewers of about £127, 50<^ 



t Average imports of foreign yeast especially grown and 

 prepared fur use in baking, 12,594 tons, having declared 

 average value to imp^^rter of £684,156 



Approximate amount annually paid by merchants for yeast 

 used in the United ELingdom £911. 500 



Now this great quantity of yeast — and when we regard yeast, as we 

 shall do here, as a cultivated fungus, it is a great quantity — is used 

 in virtue of the property it possesses of decomposing certain of the 

 carbohydrates into alcohol and carbonic acid. 



In the production of beer and spirit it is employed with the object 

 of producing alcohol : in vinegar-making with the same object, the 

 alcohol being subsequently oxidised by means of another organism 

 into acetic acid. In each of these cases the carbonic acid gas is a 

 valueless bye-product ; but in bread-making the conditions are 

 reverse i, the yeast being primarily employed with a view to the dis- 



