WINE MAKING. 437 



any mere mixture, and yet not a chemical com- 

 bination. Dr. Guyot, however, speaks of it as 

 "a thing of life, which has youth and man- 

 hood, old age and decrepitude." A late French 

 writer, M. Pasteur, attributes all the changes 

 which the juice undergoes by fermentation to 

 living action, and bases his discoveries upon 

 apparently good microscopic revelations. In 

 this country, a similar view was taken of the 

 subject by Prof. Gardiner some fifteen years 

 ago. It is a question of cause and effect, which 

 can only be determined by the most careful 

 microscopic investigations. We shall adhere 

 to established formulas, but propose to recur 

 to these discoveries hereafter. 



We have given the reader a general idea of 

 the processes by which good grapes are made 

 into wine; but there are minor details of no 

 little importance that claim our attention. 



After the grapes are assorted, every opera- 

 tion should proceed rapidly. The stemming 

 should be done speedily, as also the crushing, 

 and immediately thereafter the pressing, unless 

 we have in view fermentation of the " marc," 

 or, as it is sometimes called, fermentation on 

 the skins. For this operation we need a short, 

 expressive term, and may as well adopt that 



