442 
NATURE 
[Marcu 11, 1897 
letters. The letter = comes from either 3 or q; 4o0rzv 
from pg; #, yandz from 51; and a from a or q; ande 
from e or 9. Sometimes the Russian g is given its 
phonetic equivalent of a, but at other times, when it has 
the same pronunciation, it is rendered by 0. Hence in 
retransliterating some of the author's place-names into 
Russian, there are so many available alternatives that 
certainty is impossible. 
The spelling of place-names, however, is a detail with 
which the general reader has no concern; but Mr. 
Freshfield’s compromises form pitfalls for the students 
who may use the volume. With the difficulties of the 
“Scientist” the author has scant sympathy. A current 
of delightful and subtle sarcasm runs all through the 
book; and the unlucky “scientist” comes in for all 
the author’s hardest hits and most racy banter. At first 
sight it appears that the three main sins of the man of 
science are his narrow specialism, his pernicious habit 
of publishing “scattered communications” in scientific 
serials, and his delusion that a climber is not neces- 
sarily a geologist. The author, however, fortunately 
defines the sense in which he uses the word “scientist” : 
he means thereby “a man who bears the same 
relation to a ‘man of science’ as a poetaster does to 
a poet.” Perhaps it is a pity that Mr. Freshfield did 
not make use of the pejorative -as¢ev, and then classify 
writers on Caucasian natural history into “scientists” or 
men of science, and scientasters. Hickel once grouped 
into one section of a bibliography, all the works which 
he regarded as quite valueless. He never repeated 
this experiment ; and Mr. Freshfield might have found 
the publication of a list of scientasters a more dangerous 
feat than any of his first ascents in the Caucasus. When 
we come to definite cases, we find that the man of 
science 1s blamed for the sins of those who are not 
men of science, and ‘are hardly scientasters. Mr. 
Freshfield is severe on the man of science for the 
mistakes made in underrating the area of the Cau- 
casian glaciers. He promises, on the principle of 
corruptio optimt pessima, that he will only quote from 
“writers of authority.” Then he proceeds to quote from 
Keith Johnston and Reclus. But they are compilers and 
not original authorities; and judging from some of 
the extracts given, we should think the introduction of 
the word compilaster is urgently required. The quota- 
tions from the “‘ Géographie Universelle” afford an illus- 
tration of a devotion to obsolete authorities not unusual 
among anarchists. If a man of science wanted accurate 
information about Caucasian glaciers, he would not go 
to books where the information is given second-hand 
and often third-hand, but to the series of papers by 
Zhukov in Zemlevyedyenie, or the elaborate monograph 
by Dinnik in the Zap. Kavkaz. Otd. Russ. Gheoghr. 
Obshch. But we cannot find any reference to either 
author in the volumes, although we have searched for 
the latter as Dinnik, Djinnikh, Jinnik, Schinnik, and 
Finik. So we presume he is either a “scientist” or a 
quasi-scientist or a scientaster, and that his elaborate | 
monograph only “ darkens with vain words” the 130 pages 
of the serial on which it is printed. The complaint is 
made that men of science have not always given his climb- 
ing colleagues fair credit for the results they have obtained. 
If climbers had always worked as carefully, and observed 
as thoroughly as Mr. Freshfield, and if they had possessed 
the critical geographical instinct shown on every page he 
has contributed to these volumes, the criticisms in 
question would probably never have been made. The 
latest scientific work on the Caucasus expresses full ac- 
knowledgment of the work of “les hardis alpinistes 
anglais.” And with the present work before him, no one 
can doubt the value of the contributions which climbers 
have made to scientific geography. | J. W. G. 
0. 1428, VOL. 55] 
THE EXTRACTION OF AN ALCOHOL- 
PRODUCING FERMENT FROM YEAST. 
{z has long been currently taught that the alcoholic 
fermentation of sugar by yeast differs from the more 
common hydrolytic processes of the ordinary enzymes, 
inasmuch as it is intimately associated with, and directly 
dependent on, the living action of the yeast cell. But 
some investigators have believed that, notwithstanding 
the apparent impossibility of separating an alcoholic 
ferment from the organism, such a body nevertheless 
exists, and that alcoholic fermentation is thus, after all, 
only a special case of ordinary enzyme action, although, 
no doubt, one of peculiar complexity. 
These views have just received a remarkable con- 
firmation at the hands of Dr. E. Buchner, who has com- 
municated the results of his researches on this problem 
in a short but important paper, entitled ‘* Alcoholische 
Gahrung ohne Hefezellen,” which will be found in the 
first number of the Ber. d@. deutsch. Chem. Gesellsch. for 
the present year. The author, by pounding up pure 
yeast with quartz sand, and adding a certain amount of 
water, was able to squeeze out, under a pressure of 4-500 
atmospheres, a liquid which, after thorough filtering, was 
of an opalescent appearance, and possessed an agreeable 
yeast-like odour. All care was taken to exclude any 
organism from the liquid, and it was found that under 
these conditions it was able to excite alcoholic fermen- 
tation in solutions of suitable sugars. Thus, on adding 
a quantity to an equal volume of cane-sugar, bubbles of 
carbon dioxide appeared after the lapse of an interval 
varying from fifteen minutes to an hour. Grape-sugar 
is similarly fermented, but milk-sugar undergoes no 
change, just as is the case when living yeast is 
employed. 
One observation is of especial interest, namely, that 
the addition of chloroform, even up to the saturation 
point, does not inhibit the fermentative process, although 
it causes a rapid precipitation of albuminous substances 
from the liquid. This seems to prove conclusively that 
we are not here dealing with a body which is still living, 
in the ordinary acceptation of the term. 
If the expressed liquid be heated to a temperature of 
about 50° C. coagulation occurs, and the power of exciting 
fermentation is lost both by the coagulum and by the 
remaining liquid. It was also found that in the active 
liquid the ferment itself diffuses very slowly, if at all, 
through parchment-paper (Pergament-papier). 
On the whole, the evidence at present before us seems 
to indicate that the ferment, which its discoverer has 
called Zymase, is possibly of a proteid nature. Dr. 
Buchner believes that this is certainly the case, though 
until it has been separated from the rest of the hetero- 
geneous substances, some at least of which are proteids, 
the question as to its real constitution can hardly be 
regarded as decided. 
Buchner, whilst believing that the process of normal 
fermentation can go on within the body of the yeast cell 
itself, considers it as yet more probable that the Zymase 
is actually excreted into the sugar solution by the living 
organism. At any rate, it would seem that proteids can 
pass out of the cells into the surrounding liquid, for if 
the yeast be sown in a slightly alkaline solution of cane- 
sugar, and some of the fermenting fluid be examined 
after some hours have elapsed, it is found to contain a 
considerable quantity of a substance which coagulates 
on heating, and which is stated to be of an albuminous 
nature. 
This brief sketch of Buchner’s work will suffice to 
indicate not only its great theoretical interest, but also its 
practical importance in connection with those industries 
which are more directly concerned with fermentative 
processes. Ifooibn 1s3 
