FERIAL 



3119 



FERMENTATION 



the great Latin festival. During the 

 holding of the feriae the city was in 

 charge of special officials and no 

 business was done. See Festival. 



Ferial AND Festal. Terms used 

 in music. In the Christian Church 

 ferial signifies any day not spe- 

 cially observed either as festal or 

 penitential, and the music is of a 

 simpler order on feriaj than on 

 festal days. 



Feringhi (Pers. farangi). Cor- 

 ruption of Frank, the name given 

 by Asiatics to a European. It is 

 now generally used as a term of 

 contempt. 



Fermanagh. Inland county of 

 Ireland, in the prov. of Ulster. The 

 irregular surface is marked by nu- 

 merous hills, the highest of which, 

 wholly within the county, is Bel- 

 more (1,312 ft.). Lough Erne con- 

 sists of two lakes, the Upper and 

 Lower. Enniskillen is the co. town. 

 Agriculture is engaged in, coal, 

 iron, and building stones are found, 

 and the lakes supply salmon. The 

 G.N.I, and other rlys. serve the 

 county. Two members are re- 

 turned to Parliament. Tumuli, 

 raths, castle ruins, and a round 

 tower are among the antiquities. 

 Area, 653 sq. m. Pop. 61,636. 



Fermat, PIERRE DE (1601-65). 

 French mathematician. Born at 

 Beaumont-de-Lomagne, Aug. 17, 

 1601, he early showed remarkable 

 mathematical ability, especially 

 with regard to the theory of num- 

 bers, upon which he has left his 

 mark. Most of his work was not 

 published till after his death, and 

 some of his more important trea- 

 tises have been lost. He died at 

 Toulouse, Jan. 12, 1665. 



Fermentation (Lat. fervere, to 

 boil). Result of the action of 

 organic substances known as fer- 

 ments. In 1680 the Dutch micro- 

 scopist Leuwenhoeck showed that 

 yeast consists of definite globules, 

 but only in 1836 was it settled that 

 yeast cells originated fermentation. 

 Latour first observed that the 

 cells were living organisms, and 

 his " vital hypothesis," violently 

 opposed by Liebig, was supported 

 by Pasteur, who in 1857 gave it as 

 his opinion that " the chemical 

 action of fermentation is essentially 

 a correlative phenomenon of a 

 vital act, beginning and ending 

 with it. I think that there is never 

 any alcoholic fermentation without 

 there being at the same time 

 organization, development, multi- 

 plication of globules, or the con- 

 tinued consecutive life of globules 

 already formed." In fermentation 

 the amount of matter consumed 

 and changed into other compounds 

 is much greater than the size and 

 weight of the consuming organisms. 

 Yeast globules decompose many 



Fermanagh. 



Map oi the Ulster province containing Lough Erne, famous 

 for salmon and trout fishing 



times their weight of sugar and 

 produce a relatively large quantity 

 of alcohol and carbon dioxide. Ex- 

 perimental work has thoroughly 

 determined the action of ferments, 

 and also that each particular 

 organism has its special products 

 of fermentation. All ferments are 

 nitrogenous organic substances 

 whose activity is destroyed by 

 high temperatures. 



They are organized and un- 

 organized, the difference being that 

 an organized ferment is one which 

 does not leave the living cell during 

 the progress of fermentation, 

 whereas the unorganized ferment 

 is shed out of cells and then exerts 

 its activity. Unorganized ferments 

 are known as enzymes or chemical 

 ferments. Organized ferments, 

 which will be considered first, are 

 divided into moulds or fungi, 

 yeasts or saccharomycetes, bacteria 

 or schizomycetes. 



Moulds and Yeasts 



Moulds are the most highly 

 organized of the ferments, in that 

 cell-wall and protoplasmic con- 

 tents are distinguishable in the 

 microscopic cells. The best known 

 moulds are Mycoderma cerevisiae, 

 which causes mould in beer ; Peni- 

 cillium glaucum, the green mould 

 that forms on bread, jam, etc. ; 

 Aspergillus glaucus, a similar 

 fungus ; Micrococcus prodigiosus, 

 which causes red bread ; Puccinla 

 graminis, the " rust " or mildew 

 of wheat ; Ustilago segetum, the 

 " smut " of cereal crops ; and 

 Oidium abortifaciens, which causes 

 ergot on rye. 



Yeasts, also called saccharomy- 



cetes because they live mostly in 

 saccharine solutions, converting 

 sugar into alcohol, form a group of 

 micro-organisms of the greatest 

 importance in fermentation. Yeast 

 cells are round or oval hi shape, 

 and multiply by the process known 

 as gemmation or budding, which 

 goes on indefinitely under proper 

 conditions. In other cases they 

 form spores or new cells liberated by 

 the dissolution of the mother cell. 



Although the cells can use oxygen, 

 they appear to be independent of 

 an environment of free oxygen. 

 Time, strength of saccharine solu- 

 tion, and temperature also in- 

 fluence the process of fermentation. 

 The alcohol formed retards the 

 growth of the yeast cell, which 

 ceases action when 14 p.c. of 

 alcohol is formed. 



Alcoholic or vinous fermentation 

 is the characteristic function of 

 yeasts. Ethylic alcohol (ordinary 

 alcohol) is formed when sugar is 

 fermented. The higher alcohols, 

 propyl, butyl, amyl, and capryl 

 alcohols, are also produced under 

 suitable conditions. Fernbach has 

 recently discovered means of in- 

 creasing the proportion of amylic 

 alcohol produced during fermenta- 

 tion. From this alcohol artificial 

 rubber is made by the Matthews 

 process. Various forms of starch 

 are used as the source of sugar, 

 which is formed by the action of 

 diastase in the process of brewing. 

 Only the glucoses are capable of 

 direct fermentation. 



The chief yeasts are: (1) Sac- 

 charomyces cerevisiae, the ordinary 

 yeast of the brewer and distiller. 



