534 FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 
I tasted the cherries: they were very sour, though when 
put into the cask they were sweet. The cherries and the 
liquid associated with them were then placed in a copper 
boiler, to which a copper head was closely fitted. From 
the head proceeded a copper tube which passed straight 
through a vessel of cold water, and issued at the other side. 
Under the open end of the tube was placed a bottle to 
receive the spirit distilled. The flame of small wood- 
splinters being applied to the boiler, after a time vapor 
rose into the head, passed through the tube, was condensed 
by the cold of the water, and fell in a liquid fillet into the 
bottle. On being tasted, it proved to be that fiery and 
intoxicating spirit known in commerce as Kirsch or 
Kirschwasseri 
The cherries, it should be remembered, were left to 
themselves, no ferment of any kind being added to them. 
In this respect what has been said of the cherry applies 
also to the grape. At the vintage the fruit of the vine is 
? laced in proper vessels, and abandoned to its own action, 
t ferments, producing carbonic acid; its sweetness disap- 
pears, and at the end of a certain time the uniutoxicating 
grape-juice is converted into intoxicating wine. Here, 
as in the case of the cherries, the fermentation is spon- 
taneous in what sense spontaneous will appear more 
clearly by and by. 
It is needless for me to tell a Glasgow audience that the 
beer-brewer does not set to work in this way. In the first 
place the brewer deals not with the juice of fruits, but 
with the juice of barley. The barlev having been steeped 
for a sufficient time in water, it is drained and subjected 
to a temperature sufficient to cause the moist grain to 
germinate; after which, it is completely dried upon a kiln. 
It then receives the name of malt. The malt is crisp to 
the teeth, and decidedly sweeter to the taste than the 
original barley. It is ground, mashed up in warm water, 
then boiled with hops until all the soluble portions have 
been extracted; the infusion thus produced being called 
the wort. This is drawn off, and cooled as rapidly as 
possible; then, instead of abandoning the infusion, as the 
wine-maker does, to its own action, the brewer mixes yeast 
with his wort, and places it in vessels each with only one 
aperture open to the air. Soon after the addition to the 
yeast, a brownish froth, which is really new yeast, issues 
