48 



ALCOHOLS 



[14. 



dextrin-ferments (Jb'rgensen, loc. cit. 

 p. 216, note ; see also Marshall Ward, 

 Journ. Fed. Inst. 4, 355). S. pombe, 

 S. octosporus, and S. mellacei are included 

 by Lindner (loc. cit.} among dextrin 

 ferments. 



The pentoses from the straw of 

 cereals which give furfural on distil- 

 lation with dilute acid are said to yield 

 alcohol on fermentation by yeast (Cross, 

 Bevan, and Smith, Trans. Ch. Soc. 71, 

 1003 ; Bailey and Ford, Germ. Pat. 

 97238 of 1896; Ch. Centr. 1898, 2, 

 590). Pentoses generally, such as xylose 

 and arabinose, are not fermentable by 

 yeast (Stone, Ber. 23, 3796 ; Stone 

 and Tollens, Ann. 249, 267 ; Tollens, 

 Journ. Fed. Inst. 4, 447 ; Schone and 

 Tollens, Journ. Ch. Soc. 80, I, 367). 

 The pentosans from jute and brewer's 

 grains give alcohol on fermentation by 

 pure-culture yeast from lager beer yeast 

 (Ibid : also Journ. Fed. Inst. 7, 472). 



The transformation of sugar into 

 alcohol by yeast has been found by 

 Buchner to be brought about by the 

 action of an enzyme-like nitrogenous 

 compound (zymase) formed by the 

 living cell; but capable of acting on 

 sugar when removed from the cell. 

 The literature relating to this discovery 

 is given below : Buchner, Ber. 30, 

 117; ii 10; Buchner and Rapp, Ibid. 

 2668 ; Stavenhagen, Ibid. 2422 ; 2963 ; 

 Neumeister, Ibid. ; v. Manasse'in, Ibid. 

 3061; Green, Ann. Bot. 11, 555; 12, 

 491; Will, Ch. Centr. 1898, 1, 69; 

 Delbriick, Ibid. 70 ; Hahn, Ber. 31, 

 200 ; Geret and Hahn, Ibid. 202 ; 

 Buchner and Rapp, Ibid. 209 ; Schunck, 

 Ibid. 309 ; Buchner and Rapp, Ibid. 

 1531 ; Will, Ch. Centr. 1898, 2, 439 ; 

 Lange, Ibid. 548 ; Abeles, Ber. 31, 

 2261; Geret and Hahn, Ibid. 2335; 

 Wroblewski, Ibid. 3218 ; Centr. Physiol. 

 12, 697 ; Martin and Chapman, Proc. 

 Physiol. Soc. June, 1898; Buchner 

 and Rapp, Ber. 32, 127; 2086; 

 Wroblewski, Centr. Physiol. 13, 284 ; 

 Cremer, Ber. 32, 2062; Albert, Ibid. 

 2372; Albert and Buchner, Ber. 33, 

 266; 971; Ahrens, Zeit. angew. Ch. 

 1900, 483; Macfayden, Morris, and 

 Rowland, Ber. 33, 2764; Hahn and 

 Geret, Ch. Centr. 1900, 2, 641 ; Buch- 



ner, Ber. 33, 3307; 3311; Albert, 

 Ibid. 3775 ; Prior and Schulze, Zeit. 

 angew. Ch. 14, 208 ; Buchner and 

 Rapp, Ber. 34, 1523 ; Wroblewski, 

 Bull. Acad. Sci. Cracow, 1901, 94; 

 Journ. pr. Ch. [2] 64, I ; R. and W. 

 Albert, Centr. Bakter. II, 7, 737 ; 

 Buchner and Spitta, Ber. 35, 1703; 

 Buchner and Rapp, Ibid. 2376 : for gene- 

 ral summary see 'Die Zymasegarung/ 

 by E. and H. Buchner and Martin 

 Hahn, Munich and Berlin, 1903. 



Not only the true yeasts but other 

 related micro-fungi, and certain moulds 

 and bacteria, are capable of producing 

 alcohol from sugars as well as from more 

 complex carbohydrates : 



Hansen has investigated certain 

 species of Torula. Sp. Ill can ferment 

 hexose, but not saccharose ; Sp. IV and 

 VI can transform saccharose, but not 

 maltose; Sp. VII ferments dextrose, 

 but not saccharose or maltose. Sp. I, 

 II, and V appear to be incapable of 

 producing alcoholic fermentation. T. 

 novee carlsbergite of Gronlund can in- 

 vert and ferment saccharose, maltose, 

 and dextrose. The red pigment-form- 

 ing Torula of Kramer inverts and fer- 

 ments saccharose and ferments maltose 

 and dextrose, but not lactose (summar- 

 ised from Jorgensen's ( Mikroorganis- 

 men/ &c. ch. v). 



A Torula-\\ke species discovered in 

 milk by Duclaux (Ann. Inst. Past. 

 1, 573) ferments lactose, which is not 

 attacked by ordinary yeasts. * Sac- 

 charomyces ' lactis of Adametz (Centr. 

 Bakter. 6, 1889), the non-SaccAaromyces 

 of Kayser (Ann. Inst. Past. 8, 737), 

 and Beyerinck's ( Saccharomyces ' kepJur 

 and tyrocola (Centr, Bakter. II, 6, 44) 

 are said to produce alcohol from lactose. 

 Lactomyces inflans caseigrana from cheese 

 (Bochiccio, Centr. Bakter. &c. 15, 546) 

 can ferment lactose in bouillon. 



Certain species of Mycoderma formerly 

 confused with M. cerevisia of Hansen 

 produce alcohol in wort (Lasche, as 

 quoted by Jb'rgensen, loc. cit. 4th ed. 

 p. 263). Species of Mycoderma can 

 produce small quantities of alcohol from 

 dextrose under appropriate conditions 

 (Beyerinck : see paper by Van Laer, 

 Journ. Fed. Inst. 7, 352). 



