Supplement to "Nature," December 23, 1922 



opponents to his theories. They may be summed up 

 in his famous dictum — " Fermentation is life without 

 air." He recognised, however, the necessity for the 

 presence of dissolved oxygen in a liquid undergoing 

 fermentation. Were it not. he says, for the oxygen 

 which yeast meets with dissolved in the wort and also 

 that which it seizes upon when manipulated in contact 

 with air — for yeast which has been deprived for some 

 time of free oxygen absorbs this gas with the greatest 

 avidity — it would soon cease to act as a ferment. 

 Pasteur, therefore, lays the greatest stress on the need 

 for aeration as a preliminary to fermentation, and 

 this was one of the most valuable of his suggestions 

 relating to fermentation technology. 



According to Pasteur, however, yeast is an amphibian 

 living the aerobic life of an ordinary fungus, in which 

 case in the presence of free- aeration the maximum 

 cell reproduction is obtained with a minimum of 

 alcoholic fermentation or none at all, and secondly, 

 as an anaerobe in which alcohol production is at its 

 maximum together with a more limited cell repro- 



duction. But in order to ensure both these results 

 it is necessary for the yeast to have fixed a certain 

 quantity of oxygen. It is impossible in the space at 

 our disposal to deal with the work of Adrian Brown, 

 of Horace Brown, and of A. Slator. The question is 

 still in a sense in the melting-pot, but it would seem 

 that Pasteur's views are likely to be proved to be in 

 the main correct. 



No better tribute could be paid to the services 

 rendered by Pasteur to the fermentation industries 

 than by quoting the words of Dr. Horace T. Brown. 



" The current of my thoughts was entirely changed 

 by the perusal of the early work of Pasteur, and when 

 in 1867 . . . the celebrated ' Etudes sur le vin ' 

 came into my hands, I became thoroughly imbued 

 with the new biological aspects of fermentation. 

 There are probably but few here who can . . . fully 

 realise what it meant to have the vague and utterly 

 sterile ideas of the Liebig school replaced by the clear 

 and logical demonstration that fermentations are 

 phenomena correlative with the vital action of specific 

 organisms." 



Centenary Celebrations. 



"T^HIRTY-ONE years ago, in the issue of Nature 

 J- for March 26, 1891 (vol. 43, p. 481), Sir James 

 Pagel contributed to our Scientific Worthy series an 

 illuminating account of the career and scientific 

 researches of Louis Pasteur. His son. Mr. Stephen 

 Paget, in an article in the present supplement, makes 

 clear the full meaning of Pasteur's work as the founder 

 of bacteriology, and expresses the admiration of the 

 scientific world for the fertile fields of study opened 

 by him in many departments of natural knowledge. 

 This and other contributions with which we have 

 been favoured by Profs. Bulloch, Ledingham, Harden, 

 Ling, and Dr. Tutton, will, we hope, be accepted as a 

 modest tribute to the genius of an apostle of science 

 and supreme benefactor of the human race. 



The event, of course, which we desire to mark by 

 the publication of this supplement is the centenary of 

 Pasteur's birth at Dole on December 27, 1822. The 

 French Academy of Medicine will celebrate the centen- 

 ary on December 26 by a special meeting, which will 

 be addressed by several distinguished men of science. 

 On the following day there will be a similar assembly 

 at the Pasteur Institute, to which the Academy of 

 Mtedicine will send representatives. In the United 

 States of America the New York Academy of Medicine 

 is organising an exhibition of books, manuscripts, 

 pictures, and so on, illustrative of the life and work 

 of Pasteur. The exhibition will be opened formally on 

 December 27. when a number of distinguished American 

 medical men will give addresses on various aspects 

 of Pasteur's work. In Great Britain the Alliance 

 Francaise is entertaining MM. Yallery-Radot, descend- 

 ants of Pasteur, in February, and Dr. Pasteur Vallery- 

 Radot is to give an account of his grandfather's life 

 and work. 



Probably the most important event will be the great 

 exhibition oi hygiene and bacteriology which is being 



organised by the town and University of Strasbourg, 

 with the concurrence of the Pasteur Institute and 

 the approval of the family of Pasteur. There, from 

 May till October next, it is proposed to have exhibits 

 illustrating the advances of science made as a result 

 of Pasteur's far-reaching discoveries, while congresses 

 for discussing questions relating to the prevention of 

 disease will be held. It is hoped that it will be possible 

 to preserve a section of the exhibition as a permanent 

 Museum of Hvgiene, principally for demonstrating the 

 best methods of dealing with public water supplies 

 and similar matters. 



On the opening day of the exhibition there will be 

 another interesting ceremony in the form of the un- 

 veiling of a monument to Pasteur which is being- 

 erected at the University of Strasbourg. The monu- 

 ment will lie an obelisk carrying a medallion of Pasteur. 

 It has been provided out of funds subscribed from many 

 countries, towards which a committee under the 

 presidency of Sir Charles Sherrington, president of 

 the Royal Society, was able to forward a substantial 

 contribution from this country. It is expected that 

 a large and representative gathering from the scientific 

 world will be present on the historic occasion of the 

 unveiling ceremony. 



The French Government will be represented at the 

 various official celebrations. In addition, the Paris 

 correspondent of the Times states that the president of 

 tin senatorial commission on education has announced 

 that on the evening of December 27 the bells ol I >ole, 

 Pasteur's birthplace, will be rung for the two minutes 

 preceding 5 o'clock, and that the bells of the Franche- 

 ( omte" from the plain of the Saone to the crests of the 

 Jura will reply. He has also suggested that all the 

 bells in France should be rung at this time in com- 

 memoration of the great work for humanity accom- 

 plished during the past century. 



