340 



NATURE 



[Feb. 13, 1890 



bacteriology since Pasteur's " Etudes sur le Vin, le 

 Vinaigre, et la Bi^re," the last of which was published 

 in 1876, is Alfred Jorgensen's " Micro-organismen der 

 Giihrungsindustrie" (1886), of which the volume before 

 us is an edited translation. This lack of text-books is 

 doubtless in great measure due to the industrial aspects 

 of micro-organisms having been comparatively neglected 

 during the time that Pasteur, Koch, and their numerous 

 disciples have been busily engaged in the investigation 

 of questions of still more absorbing human interest. 

 But whilst the great majority of bacteriologists have 

 during this past decade been thus occupied in establishing 

 or endeavouring to establish the connection between 

 numerous diseases and specific organisms, a few more 

 silent workers have been patiently engaged upon the less 

 sensational though no less arduous task of placing the 

 fermentation industries on a more scientific basis, adding 

 in fact to the structure which had been commenced by 

 Pasteur in his " Etudes " referred to above. The fore- 

 most in this field of research has unquestionably been 

 Christian Hansen of the now world-famed Carlsberg 

 Laboratory near Copenhagen, and to a concise and 

 most lucid description of whose successful labours the 

 present volume is chiefly devoted. The principal addi- 

 tion which has been made to our knowledge of the 

 fermentation organisms by Hansen has been the precise 

 characterization of a number of different " races " of 

 yeast and the determination of the specific features of the 

 fermentation induced by each particular race. Thus 

 whilst Pasteur attributed the various diseases in wine 

 and beer to the presence of organisms other than yeast, 

 Hansen has shown that certain races of yeast itself are 

 capable of bringing about most serious disturbances in 

 the fermentation process. The lines on which Hansen 

 has differentiated these several races of yeast, and the 

 methods by which their pure culture may be effected are 

 clearly though briefly described in this work, with which 

 latest developments of brewing technology, both the author 

 and translator have already identified themselves in the 

 past. 



The influence which has been exerted by the researches 

 of Pasteur and Hansen on the practical conduct of the 

 fermentation industries is quite analogous to that v/hich 

 has resulted in surgery from the investigations of Lister 

 and Koch, in both cases the principle of rigid scientific 

 cleanliness has become the order of the day. Thus we 

 read, "the air in the fermenting-room may contain a 

 world of germs which, in the fermentation industries, 

 bring with them the most calamitous results ; it is, how- 

 ever, possible to obtain air free from these invisible germs, 

 and it admits of no doubt that, on the one hand, the puri- 

 fication of the air in the fermenting-room by passing it 

 through a salt-water bath, and, on the other hand, the 

 most rigidly executed order and cleanliness in the cellars 

 of the Old Carlsberg brewery, stand in direct relation to 

 the results." 



From a practical point of view, the chief merit due to 

 Hansen is that he has not only shown how pure growths 

 of yeast may be obtained in the laboratory, but that he 

 has further devised methods by which these pure cultures 

 may actually be employed on the largest brewery scale. 

 This brewing with pure yeast has already assumed very 

 large dimensions on the Continent where a continuallv 



increasing number of breweries receive regular supplies- 

 of pure material. We have ourselves visited the labora- 

 tories of the Wissenschaftliche Stationen fiir Brauerei 

 und Brennerei at Berlin and at Munich, and can testify 

 to the impressiveness of witnessing the careful prepara- 

 tion on the manufacturing scale of different forms of pure 

 yeast, each possessed of specific fermenting properties, 

 which are then transmitted to various parts of Europe ac- 

 cording to the special requirements of different breweries. 

 These experimental brewing-stations, like so many other 

 similar institutions on the Continent, are directly or 

 indirectly subsidized by the State and number amongst 

 their staff men of universal reputation in their particular 

 departments. As we should anticipate, this method of 

 scientific brewing with pure yeast has so far taken no root 

 in this country, although we are glad to know that the 

 translator, along with Mr. Horace Brown, has for some 

 time past been engaged upon its experimental trial, and 

 we learn from the latter in his introduction to this book 

 " that, in a more or less modified form, pure yeast culture 

 will play a very important part in the brewing of the future 

 in this country." 



This little work, which is condensed into 166 pages, and 

 profusely illustrated and provided with an admirable 

 bibliography, should receive the most careful attention 

 from practical men, for whom it is mainly intended. Even 

 the purely scientific student will find much in its pages 

 that should prove of service to him. 



Percy F. Frankland. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



An Epitome of the Synthetic Philosophy. By F. Howard 

 Collins, with a Preface by Herbert Spencer. (London : 

 Williams and Norgate, 1 889.) 



The aim and scope of this work cannot be more tersely 

 or more accurately conveyed than by quoting i/i extenso 

 the " compiler's preface." 



" The object of this volume is to give in a condensed 

 form the general principles of Mr. Herbert Spencer's 

 Philosophy as far as possible in his original words. In 

 order to carry out this intention each section (§) has been 

 reduced, with but few exceptions, to one-tenth ; the five 

 thousand and more pages of the original being thus re- 

 presented by a little over five hundred. The Epitome 

 consequently represents ' The Synthetic Philosophy ' as it 

 would be seen through a diminishing glass : the original 

 proportion holding between all its varied parts. 



" Should this volume lead the general reader to a 

 better acquaintance with Mr. Spencer's own works, I 

 shall feel amply repaid for my labour. 



" My warmest thanks are due to Mr. Spencer for his 

 invaluable preface ; and also to Miss Beatrice Potter, 

 and Mr. Henry R. Tedder, F.S.A., the able and accom- 

 plished secretary and librarian of the Athenaeum Club, 

 for their valuable suggestions while the work has been in 

 progress." 



The desirability of such an undertaking, supposing it 

 to have been successfully accomplished, is both manifest 

 and manifold. Mr. Spencer's works are so voluminous 

 that it is impossible to acquire a knowledge of his system 

 of philosophy as a whole without devoting to it an ex- 

 penditure of time which is practically impossible for most 

 men who are not specially engaged in philosophic studies. 

 Moreover, even to a reader who is thus specially engaged, 

 and who therefore desires fully to master this system, no 

 small difificulty is experienced from the fact that hitherto 

 there has not been so much as an index to guide his 



