178 



STUDIES ON FERMENTATION. 



growths, almost as represented in Plate XI. At first, when the 

 old, exhausted cells begin to germinate, their appearance rather 

 resembles that of dcmatiumj)uUulanH, as seen in the germination 

 of many of the corpuscles on the surface of clusters of grapes or 

 fruits, or their woody parts, some specimens of which are to 

 be found in Plate IX. 



We may briefly summarize the leading facts demonstrated in 

 the above paragraph. We have seen that there are different 

 alcoholic ferments. In the fermentation of natural saccharine 

 juices, which, especially when acid, so readily undergo a 

 decided alcoholic fermentation, the ferments originate in certain 

 germ-cells, which are spread in the form of minute spherical 

 bodies of a yellow or brown colour, isolated or in groups, 

 over the exterior surface of the epidermis of the plant, and 

 which are gifted with an extraordinary power of budding 

 with ease and rapidity in fermentable liquids. The presence 

 of atmospheric oxygen is indispensable to the germination of 

 these germ-cells, a fact which explains Gay-Lussac's obser- 

 vation that atmospheric oxygen is necessary for the com- 

 mencement of spontaneous fermentation in must.* Of these 



* M. Bechatnp {Comptes rendus, November IStli, 1872) asserts that the 

 air has no direct influence on the piroduction of ferment or on the process of 

 alcoholic fermentation. That experienced chemist deduces this erroneous 

 assertion from experiments on sweetened water, to which bunches of 

 grapes, petals of corn-poppies and petals of rohinia pseudo-acacia had 

 been added. As may be seen in our " Studies on Wine " (p. 7, 1st edition, 

 18G6), these experiments conducted by M. Bechamp in 1872 were merely 

 a reproduction of those made long before with vine leaves, petals of 

 elder-flowers, leaves of sorrel, &c., by the Marquis de Bullion, Fabroni, 

 and other experimentalists. M. Bechamp has modified his later experi- 

 ments by not adding the bunches of grapes, leaves, &c., to the sweetened 

 water before having introduced carbonic acid gas into the liquid. Fer- 

 mentation having still taken place in spite of this change, M. Bechamp 

 wrongly concluded that air has no direct influence on the prod nction of yeast 

 on an alcoholic fermentation. The introduction of the carbonic acid gas 

 could not remove all the air imparted to the sweetened water by the 

 objects placed in it, and it was this air which remained adhering to these 

 objects that permitted the production of fermentation. We may avail 

 ourselves of the opportunity here presented to add that, in this same 



