243 
Experiments and Observations on FER- 
MENTATION and the DISTILLATION 
of ARDENT SPIRIT. By Josrru Cot- 
LIER. 
READ FEB, 10 & NOV. 17, 17976 
W.- may lay it down as an incontestible 
axiom, says Lavoisier, that in all the operations 
of art or nature nothing is created; an equal quan- 
tity of matter exists both before and after the expe- 
riment ; the quality and quantity of the elements re- 
main precisely the same; and nothing takes place 
beyond changes and modifications in the combi- 
nations of those elements. Upon this principle the 
whole art of performing chemical experiments de- 
pends. We must always suppose an exact equality 
between the elements of the body examined and 
those of the products of its analysis.* 
The subject of fermentation, but more particu- 
larly the fermenting infusion of malt, has been 
very little attended to as an object of chemical en- 
quiry. Diodorus Siculus, Herodotus, and Taci- 
tus mention a method of making wine from malt ; 
yet the modern world had made very little progress — 
* Elements of Chemistry. 
