FERMENTATION 267 



before Christ, described beer as the wine of barky. It is 

 extremely difficult to preserve beer in a hot country, still, 

 Egypt was the land in which it was first brewed, the desire 

 of man to quench his thirst with this exhilarating bever- 

 age overcoming all the obstacles which a hot climate threw 

 in the way of its manufacture. 



Our remote ancestors had also learned by experience 

 that wine maketh glad the heart of man. Noah, we are 

 informed, planted a vineyard, drank of the wine, and 

 experienced the consequences. But, though wine and 

 beer possess so old a history, a very few years ago no man 

 knew the secret of their formation. Indeed, it might be 

 said that until the present year no thorough and scientific 

 account was ever given of the agencies which come into 

 play in the manufacture of beer, of the conditions neces- 

 sary to its health, and of the maladies and vicissitudes to 

 which it is subject. Hitherto the art and practice of the 

 brewer have resembled those of the physician, both being 

 founded on empirical observation. By this is meant the 

 observation of facts, apart from the principles which ex- 

 plain them, and which give the mind an intelligent mas- 

 tery over them. The brewer learned from long experience 

 the conditions, not the reasons, of success. But he had 

 to contend, and has still to contend, against unexplained 

 perplexities. Over and over again his care has been ren- 

 dered nugatory; his beer has fallen into acidity or rotten- 

 ness, and disastrous losses have been sustained, of which 

 he has been unable to assign the cause. It is the hidden 

 enemies against which the physician and the brewer have 

 hitherto contended, that recent researches are dragging 

 into the light of day, thus preparing the way for their 

 final extermination. 



