56 STUDIES ON FKRMENTATION. 



beforelumd ; this now caused a drop of the juice to be drawn 

 into the flask. We then drew out the fine point, and closed it 

 immediately in the flame of a spirit lamp. The vacuum was 

 produced by heating the flasks in our hands, or over the flame 

 of a lamp, thus causing a little air to be forced out through the 

 end of the bent tube, which we then closed up with the lamp. 

 When the flask was cool, the slight difference of pressure sufficed 

 to force into it some of the juice contained in the grape, as we 

 have just described. The drop of juice that is sucked into the 

 flask generally remains in the curved part of the fine tube ; to 

 mix it with the must we must incline the flask so as to bring 

 the must in contact with the drop ; after that we may replace 

 the flask in its natural position. 



The following are the results presented by our four series 

 of comparative experiments in the different cases. The first 

 ten flasks — our standard flasks, containing must boiled in 

 contact with pure air — showed no signs of organized pro- 

 ducts ; the must might have remained in them for any number 

 of years without change. Our second series of flasks, which 

 contained the water in which the grapes, separately and in 

 bunch, had been washed, had undergone alcoholic fermenta- 

 tion in every instance ; this had manifested itself in all the 

 flasks in the course of about forty-eight hours, the tempera- 

 ture being at about summer heat. At the same time that 

 the yeast made its appearance in the form of little white lines, 

 which gradually joining together formed a deposit on the 

 sides of the flask, we perceived minute flakes of mycelium 

 forming ; sometimes as a single fungoid growth, sometimes 

 combined with another, or with many together — these growths 

 being quite independent otherwise of the yeast or alcoholic 

 ferment. In several cases, too, mycoderma vini showed itself 

 on the surface of the liquid in the course of a few days, 

 , Vibrios and lactic ferments, properly so called, could not make 

 their appearance, on account of the nature of the liquid. 



The flasks of our third series, containing the water in which 

 the bunch of grapes had been washed, and which we boiled 



