258 PRESENT POSITION OF 



heard of Takamine's yeast. It is also assumed that this 

 ferment will become of importance for use in bakehouses. 

 In 1891, Takamine obtained his first patent in connection 

 with the above statements, and he has since obtained a 

 number of patents in different countries. It is said that 

 The Manhattan Distillery, Peoria, 111., U.S.A., now runs 

 daily 7500 gallons of alcohol by the Takamine process with 

 satisfactory results. His and Juhler's statements concerning 

 a development of yeast-cells of the Aspergillus species seems, 

 however, to be based on a great mistake (see p. 81). We are 

 here, in fact, only dealing with diastatic action. 



5. WINE, CIDER, AND FRUIT-JUICE FERMENTATION. 



Pasteur's investigations on wine fermentation led him to 

 the view that the must could without danger be left to the 

 spontaneous fermentation caused by the yeast fungi existing 

 on the surface of the grapes. On p. 4 of his ' Etudes sur la 

 biere ' he again gives expression to this view. In fact, the 

 custom of leaving this fermentation to chance continued to 

 prevail, and no one thought of looking for a more rational 

 process. At that time it was assumed that Sacch. ellipsoideus, 

 or, as Pasteur called it, " la lev&re ordinaire du vin," was a 

 single definite species. In 1883, I showed that this name 

 included at least two species. In my investigations, pub- 

 lished five years later, on the behaviour of the yeast fungi 

 with reference to the sugars, it was further shown that, in 

 the soil under vines, and elsewhere, yeasts occur, the cells 

 of which resemble those of Sacch. ellipsoideus, but which 

 are distinguished from the latter in that they do not yield 

 spores. Several of these T\m\-Saccharomycetes excite a vigo- 

 rous fermentation in solutions of dextrose, and it is, there- 

 fore, not improbable that they often take part in the wine 

 fermentation. They have, undoubtedly, been described as 

 belonging to Sacch. ellipsoideus. From this it is evident 



