124 LOUIS PASTEUK. 



the preservation of every kind of wine. Thanks to 

 this operation, the weakest wine, the most disposed to 

 turn sour, to become greasy, or to be threatened with 

 bitterness, is insured against injurious change. 



Nothing is more simple than to realise the con- 

 dition of heating in bottles. After having firmly tied 

 down the corks, the bottles are placed in a water-bath. 

 An iron basket is here useful. The water ought to 

 rise up to the wire of the cork. Among these bottles 

 is placed a bottle of water, into which the bulb of a 

 thermometer is plunged. The bath being heated, as 

 soon as the thermometer marks fifty or sixty degrees 

 Centigrade, the basket is withdrawn. The subsequent 

 soundness of the wine is thus insured. 



But if Pasteur had overlooked nothing in his efforts 

 to prevent or arrest the evil changes of wine, he still 

 saw that full confidence was not felt in the efficacy of a 

 process which must, it was thought, damage the taste, 

 or the colour, or the limpidity of the wine. After 

 having invited the judgment of people in society, whose 

 preference, if they felt any, was generally for the heated 

 wines, Pasteur wished to have a more decisive opinion. 

 He addressed himself first to wine merchants and 

 others practised in detecting the smallest peculiarities 

 of wines ; and afterwards he organised a grand experi- 

 ment in tasting. On November 16, 1865, a sub-com- 

 mission, nominated by the representative commission 

 of the wholesale wine-sellers of Paris, repaired to the 



