84 



fliience of the germination process ou the fat contained in seeds, it is 

 stated that this decreases in the ratio of from 0.094 to 0.320 per cent., 

 or an average'of 0.150 \)er cent. 



Vienna yeast. — The good qualities of Vienna beer and bread are 

 celebrated all over Germany, and are due to the excellence of the yeast 

 used in preparing them. According to Dr. Vogel, the formula for pre- 

 paring this substance is as follows : Previously malted barley, maize, 

 and rye are ground up and mixed ; next, put into water at a tempera- 

 ture ot from 150° to 170° Fahrenheit ; after a few hours, the saccharine 

 liquid is decanted from the dregs, and the clear liquid brougljt into a 

 state of fermentation by the aid of some yeast. The fermentation be- 

 comes very strong, and, by the force of the carbonic acid wliich is 

 evolved, the yeast globules (the size of which averages from 10 to 12 

 millimeters) are carried to the surface of the liquid, and there form a thick 

 scum, which is to be removed by a skimmer, placed on cloth filters, 

 drained, washed with a little distilled water, and next pressed into any 

 desired shape by means of hydraulic pressure, and covered with a strong 

 and stoutly woven canvas. This kind of yeast keeps from eight to four- 

 teen days, according to the season, and is, both for bakers and brewers, 

 very superior to that ordinarily used. 



Fat found in beer yeast. — In an article by Dr. Vogel, read before 

 the Academy of Sciences, in Munich, after referring to the fact that all 

 cereals contain a larger or smaller quantity of fatty matter, wdiich is an 

 essential constituent of the grain, the author describes at length his 

 experiments made for the purpose of extracting, by means of ether, the 

 fat contained in beer yeast, an oil boiling at about 200° Centigrade, 

 specific gravity equal to 0.901; decomposed when heated above 300° 

 Centigrade, and yielding acrolein. The quantity of this oil found in one 

 liter of the yeast amounts to from 0.2 to 0.3 grams. It appears that 

 this oil is in most respects similar to the fatty matter found in barley. 



Sewerage system in Milan. — The sewerage system adopted in 

 Milan, is recommended by Mr. Child, of Oxford, as being suitable for 

 small towns and country villages. Its essential feature is the drainage 

 of the houses into water-tight cess-pools, which are emptied frequently, 

 efficiently, and quite inoffensively, by means of a barrel-cart, previously 

 exhausted of air, and a hose. The barrel-cart then conveys the sewage 

 to a depot at a convenient distance, where all that is salable is sold to 

 farmers, and the rest is manufactured into a kind of dry artificial guano. 

 Many small towns and villages lie on dead flats or at the bottom of deep 

 valleys, where ordinary sewerage works could not be established with- 

 out an expensive provision for raising the sewage in order to render 

 it available for irrigation. In such places the Milanese system might 

 be carried out with ease, and at comparatively small outlay. A certain 

 number of cess-pools must be rendered water-tight — a process not very 

 expensive. One cess-pool would serve for several cottages, and frequent 

 emptying would be better than large sizes of inclosures. Two barrel- 

 carts must be procured, and these, with a small steam-engine at the 

 depot to work the air-pump, would, together with about three men 

 and two horses, form the whole of the apparatus required for testing the 

 system on a small but sufficient scale. On the day on which Mr. Child 

 visited the depot near Milau, farmers' carts were waiting there literally 

 in scores, to obtain their supply of it; and he feels sure that, if landed 

 proprietors or farmers were to give this system a trial in this country, 

 they would find it worth adoption 



