46 MICRO-ORGANISMS AND FEEMENTATION. 



abundant contamination here was that of mould-fungi, as in all 

 other localities. After a thorough examination HANSEN came 

 to the conclusion that, without doubt, scarcely a single organism 

 which entered the flasks proceeded from the grains. At all events 

 the great abundance of bacteria in the grains does not bear any 

 relation to the above-stated result, which tends to show that in 

 this, as in other cases, air does not take up organisms from 

 moist surfaces. 



This, however, must not be misunderstood to mean that 

 grains may be allowed to accumulate, without risk, and that 

 after removal, the residue may be exposed to the weather. It 

 is clear that this would constitute a great danger. When the 

 residue becomes dry and is blown about in the air as dust, 

 masses of bacterial germs will be carried up at the same time, 

 and will, without doubt, constitute a source of constant bacterial 

 contamination. For this reason, places where grains have re- 

 mained for any length of time must be washed with lime-water 

 or, preferably, with chloride of lime. 1 



In a 'corridor which led to a room where the barley was 

 turned, the flasks always received a greater contamination 

 than anywhere else ; bacteria especially were found in great 

 abundance. 



On the malt floors the condition of the air was also 

 characteristic ; it always contained a very strong growth of 

 mould. In the case in question this growth consisted of 

 Eurotium Aspergillus, which was othewise rare. On the 

 malt itself, as always, Penicillium glaucum occurred the most 

 frequently. 



The greatest interest, however, attaches to his examination 

 of the different fermenting-rooms, partly in " Old Carlsberg " 

 brewery and partly in the brewery " N." In the former 

 the air contained fewer organisms than in any of the 

 localities examined during the whole research ; in the 

 fermenting-cellars of the brewery " N," on the contrary, a large 

 number of flasks (5 5 '7 5 to 100 per cent.) were infected. The 



1 The germs are not killed during the treatment of the grain in drying 

 machines. Such apparatus, therefore, constitute a very great danger in the 

 brewery, in cases where dust-clouds of bacteria can be transported from the 

 dried grains to the open coolers or into the fermentation-vessels. 



