TIIF.nlUI.s or FERMENTATION 



TO fermentation were conducted without the aid of the 



microscope, so that he did not l>ring to light :my actual facts concerning the 

 nature of yeast, but as was 'pointed out, though in \.-iiu. by < V M I:\KNM: (I.) as 

 far back as 1838 based hi- ovoid of foundation. 



I n the same way anot i ! Dchman, vis., Desmasiei epu ted pioneer 



of the f. tion, cannot permanently retain 



Ised the part played by yeast in 



. hut. as 06 to his treatise, published in 1826 (in pages 42 



to 6; of vol. x. of tin- .!,//<. CJM So. -V"/.). will show, (his assertion i- incorrect. 



In these observa viewed tlie matter simply as a naturalist. 



the fungoid growths eoveiing the surface of moist substrata 



were conduct- thi> point of view, and it was in the course of this study 



that he examined the that develop on D86T, <fec. These consist of ma 



of elongated cells, to which lie gave the name Mycodtrma < As he 



hey exhibited power- of locomotion, he considered them as belonging to 



animal kingdom (n/iinm/ai/n numorftna), but, true to his purely descriptive 



inci. g irded their ph\ siologicnl properties, and especially their 



influence on the substratum. Thus the reputation attributed to Desmazieres of 



ing, in 1826, micro.-copically studie.l the morphology of the yeast-like cells, to 



which Persoon had definitely alluded four years earlier, is dissipated by facts. 



< Mi the other hand, a < MM man worker, viz., KKXI.EHKX (I.), had already, in 



S, correctly estimated the importance of yeast, in that he asserted it to be a 



living organism, the vital functions of which are the cause of fermentation. 



Unfortunately he did not follow up this idea, which was thrown out as a mere 



occasional remark in his treatise on practical analytical experiments. Otherwise 



he would, in iSiS. have anticipated what was only accomplished twenty years 



later, vi/.., the establishment of the fact that (alcoholic) fermentation is causa- 



\ < Mined ed \\ith the life (vita) of certain organisms. This was determined, 



almost simultaneously, by three investigators working quite independently of 



other: Cagniard Latour in France, and Theodor Schwann and Friedrich 



ing in Cermanv. 



which these three arrived at their common goal differed. The 



I'Yeneh teehnicist is known by name to the majority of educated people 



on account of the siren lie invented, and which is largely used in the science of 



Me also devoted some attention to brewing, and compiled a work on 



entation of beer. The preliminary studies undertaken in this connection 



le.l him to more closely investigate the nature of the "yeast, "of which notwith- 



"t his two compatriots already mentioned practically 



.ing was then known. This material he examined with the assistance of the 

 roscope, and laid the results of hi- n-earches before the Parisian Academy on 



i S_5;. in a -liort paper (II.) containing the following chief point- : 

 I leer-yeast in^ an inanimate chemical substance. a> previously 



I -mall globules which po>se rrproduetive power. 

 and are thereto i ,. livini: orijani^iis. 



to l>elong to the vegetable kingdom, and to reproduce 

 themselves in t 



veem to a. IL.MI solution only whilst still living ; wherefore it 



Ability, be concluded that', by their vital act ivity. carbon 

 i-* liberated, and the sugar solution transformed into an aloohollC liquid, 



13. The Researches of Theodor Schwann. 



j'linted in italics in tin- t -how. and as 



a closer examination of the original treatise will more d.aily n\ iard 



