48 Report S.A.A. Advancemeni of Science. 



farmer should possess an accurate knowledge of the principles andl 

 conditions of alcoholic fermentation and of the acetic acid fermenta- 

 tion, to follow the one and to avoid the other. I know, however,, 

 from experience, that there are very few wine farmers who posses.s- 

 some knowledge of the rudiments of the Chemistry of I'ermentation^ 

 and are able to apply its principles to practice. What is the use of 

 spending labour, energy and treasure on growing and producing those 

 splendid grapes for which the Cape is famous if at the same time care 

 be not taken to produce at least a sound wine ? The attempts hithertO' 

 made with a view to spreading amongst the wine-farmers a better 

 understanding of the principles of fermentation and of wine-making 

 have for some reason or other not been altogether a success, and 

 much remains to be done in the future in this direction. 



Closely connected with wine-making is the distillation of brandy,, 

 also a branch of Chemical Technolog}*. It is astonishing how large 

 the losses are which the brandy-producers annually suffer from want 

 of knowledge of the very rudiments of the principles of the Chemistry 

 of Fermentation. In some of the wine districts nearly all the wine 

 is used for making brandy, and since on most of these farms fustage 

 is insufficient, distilling and pressing is going on at the same time, 

 and the young wine, containing still 6 per cent, to 10 per cent, of 

 sugar, is distilled, and the yet unfermented sugar is thrown away and 

 lost. About 22 years ago I tried to ascertain, at least approximately, 

 the amount of loss which the brandy industry suffered annually 

 through this procedure. Assuming that the average of sugar in the 

 juice was 20 per cent.. 1 found that the loss of brandy amounted to 

 at least 33 per cent, of what was produced, because all the young 

 wines submitted to distillization contained still over 5 per cent, of 

 sugar, one-third of the amount which had undergone fermenation. 



I have treated this subject a little more fully to give an example 

 which illustrates how the want of knowledge and the neglect of scien- 

 tific principles directly affect the revenue of the people. I could give 

 several other examples of the same type, but this may suffice. 



We can hardly speak in SoutTi ATrica at present of the applica- 

 tion of Chemistry to technical and industrial purposes on a large 

 scale, if we exclude the two large Dynamite Factories near Somerset 

 West and Johannesburg, which have been called into existence through 

 the development of the mining industry, and which are to serve the 

 further development of this industry. The several small attempts 

 which have been made in connection with the production of cement, 

 of glass, of potter}", and of sulphuric acid have not been successful. 

 Some of these industries soon disappeared again, and the others have 

 not prospered as they should. 



It is worth while to approach the question whether the condi- 

 tions for the development of extensive chemical industries exist in 

 South Africa or not. These conditions are of a social and of a 

 material nature. We .shall only review the latter, because they are 

 more permanent than the ever-changing and fluctuating social condi- 

 tions. The principal of the material conditions for the development 

 of chemical industries is an ample supply of sources of energy. The- 



