FoeboRs 6 CP A BOK 2 FER 
‘Ferments- high authority, we mean La Place,* who affirms, with- 
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printed at ‘Toulouse in folio, 1679, contain also several 
smaller tracts, and a great number of letters to learned 
“iat 
FE NTATION, an intestine commotion, 
certain substances of 
to 
or animal origin 
~are, more or less, liable, from the spontaneous reaction 
of their constituent elements. The embraces a 
series of changes of i terminates in the 
formation of new , which differ essentially 
from the original substance, as well as from one another. 
net ae gl ue a a Hebe oe Sar In eae 
and to these, epithets have applied descriptive of 
the products to which it gives birth, namely, the vi- 
‘nous, the acetous, and the putrefactive. ergs] 
some upon the process in general, we 
consider the subject under these three heads. 
It appears that no species of fermentation can take 
place without some portion of moisture, and a certain 
elevation of temperature. The of moisture is 
necessary, because no chemical action can be displayed 
aceon Aer the intervention ot ee ve 
t0'thed ‘el 
aeiaahaindn aie iteeien ter, tach ather? and 
re enciaees Shiels 286 Well 
dried, kept free from moisture, min Boa pon hen 
for many years without suffering any change 
in their composition. The degrees of heat necessary 
for fermentation vary with the different kinds of it ; 
but below a certain temperature, the process does not 
vinous fermentation; and a still greater number run Fermentas 
into putrefaction that never suffer any change analo- _ 4 
gous to the vinous or acetous processes. } _ 
The vinous fermentation has been examined by Vinous fer 
chemists with a.good deal of attention ; anda variety "Vcntahon— 
of useful facts connected with the process have been process be 
noticed, though the circumstances that may be deemed entirely con- 
essential to it are still involved in some degree of un- fined to sac- 
i It is well known that saccharine matter, in charinemate 
some form or other, passes most readily into the vinous 
state, and that the product of the fermentationis 
when the substance which is subjected to the process 
contains the largest portion of sugar; but it has not 
been decidedly ascertained. whether sugar is the only: 
substance capable of being converted into ardent spirit. 
When nutritive grains are employed to afford ferment- 
ed liquors, they are previously or at least in- 
e 
part, to the tion of malting. ject of which 
is to convert the farinaceous part into sugar by germi- 
nation. This operation was long held indispensibly 
necessary to the grain le of the vinous fer~ 
‘mentation ; but experience has proved this opinion to 
iia, th sichh shaktre; a cniatabe: «pica diatiliers, bare 
of late been in the ice of malting only part of the 
grain, and adding the rest in a mashed or ground state;. 
and they have found it to answer their purpose ex- 
tremely well, when the latter is used in a r pro- 
portion than the former. It is not a little singular, 
that when the farinaceous part of the mashed grain is 
mixed with water, it passes into the state of an acid, 
without acquiring any vinous quality; but when mixed 
Ed emer o of saccharine matter, it undergoes the 
vinous tation, and yields a larger portion. of spi- 
rit than the sweet matter alone would have afforded: 
ee orn eevee to ene that norte already 
in the state of su the roperty acting u 
this farinchona petal the ; an wounding ade 
it not fo tis pmopesty’ of the oun ego he = 
it not for thi farina, wi grain not 
frequently be sustained by the:farmers in unfavourable “““ ba 
seasons; as grain that has once begun to: grow, and Givitier, 
deg in. Such never ‘can undergo any 
iting: when grain has been made to grow 
in this manner, it can be supposed that the 
into saccharine matter is perfect or complete. 
It therefore would be less proper for the vinous fer- 
mentation, and would furnish a ‘smaller — of 
— than grain which had been perfectly “ 
his grain, Scirebies when mixed with a quantity of 
malt, and fermented, furnishes as much spirit 
ai deere oll Beer eee amy he 
persons in this trade even ee 
grain can % grain, it to- 
senha the % wick shote'adaly east art antichod Ghat 
they obtain more spirits in this way, than from an 
equal quantity of good malt.” — 
Though sugar, in some modified form, appears to be Other suis. 
the only substance capable of the vinous fermentation, stances be- 
certain other substances are necessary, both for the side saccha- 
‘commencement and continuation of the process, A Tine matter 
suitable quantity of water must be added:to the saccha- °¢ss*'Y 
rine matter : if the quantity, however, be in excess, arr hag 
the li is apt to into the acetous fermentation ; mentation. 
and if it be too little, the process on difficultly 
and slowly. When the liquor to be ented consists 
% Theorie Analytique des Probobilites. 
