YEAST. 



YELLOW-WOOD. 



ing. Its action is arrested also by the tempera- 

 ture of boiling water, by alcohol, common salt, 

 an excess of sugar, oxide of mercury, corro- 

 sive sublimate, pyroligneous acid, sulphurous 

 acid, nitrate of silver, volatile oils, and, in 

 short, by all antiseptic substances. 



" The insoluble part of the siibstance called fer- 

 ment does not cause fermentation. For when the 

 yeast from wine or beer is carefully washed 

 with water, care being taken that it is always 

 covered with this fluid, the residue does not 

 produce fermentation. 



" The soluble part of ferment likewise does not ex- 

 cite fermentation. An aqueous infusion of yeast 

 may be mixed with a solution of sugar, and 

 preserved in vessels from which the air is ex- 

 cluded, without either experiencing the slight- 

 est change. What then, we may ask, is the mat- 

 ter in ferment which excites fermentation, if nei- 

 ther the soluble nor insoluble parts possess the 

 power 1 ? This question has been answered by 

 Colin in the most satisfactory manner. He 

 has shown that in reality it is the soluble part. 

 Before it obtains this power, the decanted in- 

 fusion must be allowed to cool in contact with 

 the air, and to remain some time exposed to 

 its action. When introduced into a solution 

 of sugar in this state, it produces a brisk fer- 

 mentation ; but without a previous exposure to 

 the air it manifests no such property. 



" During the fermentation of sugar by yeast, 

 both of these substances suffer decomposition 

 at the same time, and disappear in conse- 

 quence. But if yeast be a body which excites 

 fermentation by being itself in a state of de- 

 composition, all other matters in the same con- 

 dition should have a similar action upon sugar; 

 and this is in reality the case. Muscle, urine, 

 isinglass, osmazome,* albumen, cheese, glia- 

 dine, gluten, legumin, and blood, when in a 

 state of putrefaction, have all the power of 

 producing the putrefaction or fermentation of 

 a solution of sugar. Yeast, which by con- 

 tinued washing has entirely lost the property 

 of inducing fermentation, regains it when its 

 putrefaction has recommenced, inconsequence 

 of its being kept in a warm situation for some 

 time. 



" If we consider the process of the fermenta- 

 tion of pure sugar, in a practical point of view, 

 we meet with two facts of constant 

 When the Quantity of fV>rm~n- 



sary in order to effect the transformation of a 

 certain portion of sugar, not because it acts by 

 its quantity increasing any affinity, but because 

 its influence depends solely on its presence, 

 and its presence is necessary, until the last 

 atom of sugar is decomposed. 



" We have seen that ferment or yeast is a 

 body in the state of decomposition, the atoms 

 of which, consequently, are in a state of mo- 

 tion or transposition. Yeast, placed in contact 

 with sugar, communicates to the elements of 

 that compound the same state, in consequence 

 of which, the constituents of the sugar arrange 

 themselves into new and simpler forms, name- 

 ly, into alcohol and carbonic acid. In these 

 new compounds, the elements are united toge- 

 ther by stronger affinities than they were in. 

 the sugar, and therefore under the conditions 

 in which they were produced further decompo- 

 sition is arrested. 



" We know, also, that the elements of sugar 

 assume totally different arrangements, when 

 the substances which excite their transposition 

 are in a different state of decomposition from 

 the yeast just mentioned. Thus, when sugar 

 is acted on by rennet or putrefying vegetable 

 juices, it is not converted into alcohol and 

 carbonic acid, but into lactic acid, mannite, 

 and gum. 



"Again, it has been shown, that yeast added 

 to a solution of pure sugar gradually disap- 

 pears, but that when added to vegetable juices 

 which contain gluten as well as sugar, it is re- 

 produced by the decomposition, of the former 

 substance. 



" The yeast with which these liquids are made 

 to ferment, has itself been originally produced 

 from gluten. 



" The conversion of gluten into yeast in these 

 vegetable juices is dependent on the decompo- 

 sition (fermentation) of sugar; for, when the 

 sugar has completely disappeared, any gluten 

 which may still remain in the liquid does not 

 suffer change from contact with the newly de- 

 posited yeast, but retains all the characters of 

 gluten. 



"Yeast is a product of the decomposition 

 of gluten ; but it passes into a second stage 

 of decomposition when in contact with water. 

 On a - " A "-ther 



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