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for it were true, a good working basis for an entire distillery. It has been 
used by the Japanese for centuries in one of their important fermentation 
industries, that of saké brewing, though like many other ferments used 
in early times, its true nature was not understood. 
In the manufacture of saké, rice is steamed and then mixed with some 
rice which is covered with the mould, or else the rice is sown with the 
spores. The spores germinate in the moist and warm air, forming a much- 
branched mycelium which penetrates to all parts of the grains. This my- 
celium in developing secretes a diastatic ferment, which acts on the starch, 
first liquefying it, then changing the liquefied starch to sugar. The form- 
ation of spores is avoided by adding quantities of fresh grain from time 
to time, and mixing the fresh grain with that which has been inoculated. 
The addition of fresh grain is repeated several times, the mass thus. 
formed of grains and mould being given the name “taka koji.’ The koji 
is mashed with about three times its volume of fresh steamed rice and four 
times its volume of water, and then allowed to stand at a temperature 
between 20° and 30°C. After some days the mash clears, from the sac- 
charification of the starch, and a spontaneous fermentation sets in. This 
fermentation is due, however, to a different organism from A. oryzae. It 
is presumably on account of this fermentation that the mould has been 
erroneously called Japanese yeast. The fermentation goes on for two 
or three weeks, and at the end of that time the liquid is filtered. The re- 
sulting liquor is clear, pale yellow, and contains about thirteen per cent. 
of alcohol. 
The mould has not been well known in this country until recently, 
though it has been known in Europe, and has received considerable atten- 
tion from European botanists for about twenty years. In later years 
very enthusiastic claims have been made in regard to its physiological 
action, it being claimed that in the growth of the mould, ‘‘crystals” of 
diastase were formed on the filaments, that it was also so active and cer- 
tain in its action as an alcoholic ferment, that in time it would entirely 
supersede yeast in the fermentation industries. 
HISTORICAL. 
The work of the first investigator, Ahlburg, in 1876, was the naming 
and description of the fungus. He called it Eurotium oryzae, because, as 
he said, the spores did not form chains, and the mycelium was not bent at 
angles. He described the sporangium as of a yellow color and possessing 
