PART I 

 MICROBES OF ALCOHOLIC LIQUORS 



CHAPTER XIX 



THE MICROBE OF BEER 



THIS microbe is a tiny being, spherical in form, 

 and about eight micromillimeters in diameter, 

 a little over ^Vir of an inch. It would take 3,225 

 of them, placed side by side, to make one inch. 

 Over 2,000,000 of them could be packed into the 

 space occupied by a small drop of water. 



Yet this tiny being has all the functions of com- 

 mon life. It eats, digests, excretes, moves, and, 

 with great rapidity, propagates its kind. Its 

 method of propagation is both by Budding and by 

 the Production of Spores, as seen in Figs. 48, 49, 

 and 50. 



For all the good lager beer in the world, the 

 world is indebted to this being. Without its aid 

 no beer could be made. In the grain used in brew- 

 ing beer there must be plenty of sugar. Only this 

 microbe can convert the sugar into alcohol and 

 carbon dioxide, two essential ingredients of beer. 

 Any grain may be used, but the grain which con- 

 tains the most sugar is the best. Barley contains 



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