372 STUDIES ON FERMENTATION. 



needle,* previously heated, with perfect corks that had been 

 passed through the flame. The bottles arrived in Paris in very- 

 good condition, quite full of the liquid up to the corks. They 

 were left undisturbed for one or two days at the same tempe- 

 rature as that to which they had been exposed during the 

 corking and the journey. The object of this was to afibrd time 

 for a deposit of the wort to form at the bottom of each bottle. 

 As a matter of fact, we know that wort boiling in the copper 

 is charged with proteinaceous matters and other floating and 

 insoluble substances. The wort above the deposit was turbid 

 and opaline ; it was in this state when we used it for our expe- 

 riments. It may be taken for granted, without risk of appre- 

 ciable error, that the wort had been absolutely deprived of oxygen 

 in solution, inasmuch as it had been bottled when boiling, and 

 had cooled down out of contact with air. As for the quan- 

 tity of oxygen that it might have held in combination, this 

 must have been insignificant, although there must have been 

 some, since the wort had been exposed to the air in the copper ; 

 the oxygen in combination, however, could have had no appre- 

 ciable influence on the results which we obtained. Let us call 

 this wort boiled loort. 



First Experiment. — Into a straight-necked flask we introduced 

 a certain measured quantity of this wort by means of a syphon, 

 taking care that the syphon should only act on the opaque wort, 

 and should not reach the deposit at the bottom of the bottle. 

 We then drew out the neck to a fine tube in the flame and 



[* The bottling needle {foret d aiguille) is a contrivance for permitting a 

 cork to be di'iven into a bottle completely filled with, liquid, without burst- 

 ing the bottle. It consists of a slightly-tapering iron pin about -^th inch 

 in diameter and 2 inches in length, somewhat flattened, and slightly 

 curved throughout its entire length, with a groove running down one side 

 from end to end, the pin being jointed with a ring, like a common ring 

 cork-screw. In using it the pin is driven into the bottle alongside the 

 cork, thus allowing the excess of liquid to escape as the cork advances. 

 When the cork is completely home, the needle is withdi-awn, and the 

 elasticity of the cork enables it to fill up the space left, so that we 

 have the bottle corked air-tight, and no air left between the cork and 

 liquid.— D. C. E.] 



