574 CHAPTER XXVIII 



of sulphuric acid gave intermediate results. Finally there is the question 

 of the production of fruit ethers by certain non-sporing yeasts or torulas. 

 One such was isolated by Peck and Deeri'^ from material fron Natal, and 

 produced 7,558 parts of ethereal salts per 100,000 of alcohol, both acetate and 

 butyrate being present. Similar organisms with a production of fruit 

 ethers twice as great have been obtained by Ashby^^ from Jamaica distil- 

 leries. 



Possibly all the causes mentioned above contribute to the flavour of rum, 

 the predominance of one cause fixing the type peculiar to a locality. 



Independent of biological causes, the type of still used has an influence, 

 the product of pot stills retaining more of the non-alcohols than happens 

 with continuous stills, and finally the addition of caramel and its method of 

 preparation also contribute to the flavour of rum. 



Faulty Rum. — By faulty rum is meant a spirit which on dilution with 

 water becomes cloudy and throws down a deposit. The causes to which 

 this behaviour are attributed are : — The presence of caramels soluble in 

 strong and insoluble in dilute spirit ; the presence of higher fatty acids, due 

 to careless distillation, which are precipitated on dilution ; the presence of 

 terpenes extracted by the spirit from the casks ; the presence of a micro- 

 organism capable of life and reproduction in 75 per cent, alcohol. This 

 last view was brought forward by V H. and L. Y. Veley,^* who named the 

 organism they isolated Coleothrix methystes and stated that it is extremely 

 resistant to ordinary methods of destruction, survives desiccation, is air 

 borne, and both aerobic and anaerobic. In certain of their publications the 

 organism is described as multiplying and living actively in 75 per cent, rum, 

 and in other places as merely surviving in spirit. The whole of the results 

 of V. H. and L. Y. Veley were challenged by Scard and Harrison, ^^ who 

 were unable to obtain any of the effects noticed by the Veleys. They found, 

 however, in Demerara rums remains of organisms similar to the one in ques- 

 tion, and were of opinion that faultiness in rum was due to the first three 

 causes mentioned above. 



When rum samples have been kept in an imperfectly sealed bottle so that 

 the spirit is free to evaporate, the writer has frequently noticed a muci- 

 laginous growth appear ; this on microscopic examination is found to be of 

 a fungous character, and to be similar to that described by Veley as the cause 

 of faulty rum. The writer has never observed it in strong spirit, but, when 

 the fungus growth was transferred en masse to 75 per cent, alcohol, the 

 organisms were not killed, but cultures could be obtained for over a year. 

 The growth did not increase in size, but remained suspended in the rum, 

 which remained quite clear. When a drop of the original weak spirit con- 

 taining the fungus was inoculated into sound clear rum, no change whatever 

 took place. The writer thinks it quite possible that masses of the organism, 

 to the existence of which he gives credence, have found their way into casks 

 and puncheons, and have thus been present and alive on arrival in England, 

 but he does not think they can be caUed the cause of faulty rum. 



Caramel. — Caramel is the name given to the decomposition products 

 obtained on heating sugar or glucose to temperatures in the neighbourhood 

 of 180° C. ; a black brittle amorphous highly hygroscopic substance, which 

 reduces Fehling's solution, results. This body is certainly a mixture of 

 various bodies, of the chemistry of which nothing is known. The product 



