180 



KNOWLEDGE. 



[August 1, 1900. 



more theories echo from these times, mostly buried now 

 in the tombs of Meissner, who verily believes the action 

 of yeast is purely chemical, of Colin and Kiimtz, and 

 other men of science, who deem the whole matter con- 

 nected with electrical phenomena. 



Let us just put together the three or four main 

 schemes of fermentation, as set forth by as many eminent 

 philosophers. In the first place, we will put the vital 

 theory, so well defined in Turj^in's words already quoted. 

 It finds support, at one time and another, from Caignard 

 de la Tour, Schwann, Kiitzing, Van der Brock, Bichat, 

 and lastly the illustrious Pasteur. As against this vital 

 theory, we must place that of mechanical forces, 

 originated by Stabl and Willis, and championed by 

 Justus von Liebig, aided and abetted by Gerhardt. 

 Then, again, the theory of catalytic forces, or contact- 

 action, as set forth by Berzelius and Mitscherlich, has 

 to be reckoned with, so that when, in the fulness of 

 time, Pasteur uttered his mandate, it brought immense 

 relief to the minds of all concerned therewith. " My 

 firm opinion," said Pasteur, " is that the chemical act 

 of fermentation is a correlative phenomenon of a vital 

 act, both beginning and ending with such an act. I 

 cannot conceive the possibility of alcoholic fermentation, 

 without there being, at the same time, organisation, 

 development, growth of new globules or the continuation 

 of consecutive life of globules already formed." 



The question now naturally arises, whence came these 

 globules ? The records of earliest times teach us of races 

 of human beings who are deeply convinced of the truth 

 of spontaneous generation, allied, in some cases, to an 

 erudite philosophical conception which declares life itself 

 is but an, almost, chance attribute of certain molecules, 

 which themselves form the basis of all things living. 



But perhaps it is chiefly due to a deep-thinking 

 Catholic priest, Needham, Fellow of the Royal Society, 

 that the true cause and nature of fermentations was first 

 suggested. How he sprang upon the idea of boiling 

 solutions in bottles, and then closing them up, we can 

 scarce relate, but it is to his eternal credit that he actually 

 did first boil and then seal, and thereby Needham ob- 

 tained the master-key which unfolded the portals 

 guarding all the glories of modern bacteriology. We 

 are reluctant to record that Needham's boiled solutions 

 did not keep for any length of time, but another learned 

 cleric, one Spallanzini, soon defined the reason thereof, 

 and, having subjected the liquids to prolonged ebullition, 

 he straightway hermetically closes his flasks. In such- 

 like manner was the time-honoured theory generatio 

 aequivoca, of spontaneous generation, first laid in dust 

 and ashes. Men began to realise what mai'vels and 

 mysteries were borne on each passing breeze ; they 

 divined the ursprung of the fermentations that attacked 

 sugar solutions and meat broth ; and, moreover, the 

 teachings of science were applied in most practical 

 manner, as in the classic arrangements of Appert. 

 Scheele was the first to initiate the process we now call 

 " pasteurizing," or the sterilization of changeable 

 materials by heat. 



From many experiments, Gay-Lussac (1778-1850) was 

 enabled to utter forth strange revelations as to the 

 robbery of oxygen from the air imprisoned in hermeti- 

 cally closed flasks containing putrescible materials, 

 whereby men had but little difficulty in connecting 

 this gas with the urgent demands of all life. And 

 from these points onwards we have witnesed the teach- 

 ings of Pasteur and Hansen, the former of whom has 

 already been cited, whilst the latter, as the great bio- 

 logical and botanical exjjert of yeasts, does not come 



directly under the categoi-y of subjects we are at present 

 discussing. 



The present-day theorists are divided into two distinct 

 schools, namely : those concerned with the vital theory, 

 and the others who, to some extent, espouse a reversion 

 to older chemical hypotheses known as Professor 

 Buchner's zymase theory. The learned Tiibingen pro- 

 fessor succeeded in extracting from living yeast cells 

 an enzyme, or soluble ferment, which he calls zymase, 

 and which has been proved capable of inducing the 

 same alcoholic fermentation as that hitherto accredited 

 only to the living and multiplying yeast cells. Numerous 

 other men of science have confirmed these startling 

 experiments, amongst others, our English botanist, 

 Reynolds Green, who detailed his work on the subject 

 at the Bristol meeting of the British Association for 

 the Advancement of Science. The idea is in reality 

 a revival of similar theories advanced half-a-century ago 

 by Traube and Hojjpe-Seyler, but Buchner has been 

 able to support his hypothesis by actual experiment, an 

 indispensable adjunct lacking in many earlier commen- 

 taries on fermentation. The battle is still being waged, 

 and it is not possible for us, at present, to adjudicate 

 victory to either side. 



In conclusion, we must offer most humble apologies 

 to a vast host of learned shades, the ofi^spring of whose 

 imaginative brains we have had neither leisure nor desire 

 to exhume. Their strange theories, and stranger person- 

 alities, belong to a long-vanished past, and we have not 

 deemed it wise to drag them from out the " dark back- 

 ward and abysm of Time." Our barque has been borne, 

 with exceeding rapidity, clown the stream of many ages ; 

 it only remains for us to ask, Where will she find a 

 haven in the centuries to come ? 



93ntisi| ©trntljologtcal Notes. 



Conducted by Habr? P. Withebbt, f.z.s., m.b.o.u. 



Bird Protection. — At the annual dinner of the 

 British Ornithologists' Union the following excellent 

 resolution was proposed by Mr, E. G. B. Meade-Waldo, 

 seconded by Mr. H. M. TJpcher, and carried unani- 

 mously : — " That any member of the Union, directly or 

 indirectly responsible for the destruction of nest, eggs, 

 young or parent^birds of any of the species mentioned 

 below — Osprey, Kite, White-tailed Eagle, Honey Buzzard, 

 Common Buzzard, Hoopoe, Golden Oriole, Ruil, Bittern 

 and Chough — should be visited with the severest censure 

 of the Union." It is to be hoped that this resolution 

 will deter those members who arc in the habit of pur- 

 chasing British taken eggs from buying the eggs of 

 these birds, and thus becoming indirectly responsible 

 for their destruction. All the birds mentioned will 

 require the strictest protection in Great Bi'itain for 

 many years before they can again become at all 

 numerous. All the laws — and now there are many for 

 bird protection — are practically useless as long as buyers 

 of eggs and skins insist on having British taken speci- 

 mens. And, after all, it is only a matter of sentiment 

 that the eggs or birds should be British taken. There 

 are many places abroad v/here the species named above 

 are common, and the birds and eggs taken there are 

 precisely similar to those taken in England or Scotland. 

 And yet ornithologists, who know perfectly well that 

 these birds are fast dying out in Great Britain, create 

 a demand for their eggs and skins. We know of a 

 dealer — would that we knew his name — who has lately 

 taken many clutches of the eggs of the Kite in Wales, 

 where these birds arc said to still " hold their own !" 



