Dr. A. Schulte im Hofe 131 
be an insufficient supply of air, butyric acid 
fermentation, &c., will take place. In order 
to avoid these, the leaves have to be par- 
tially dried, but still kept moist enough for 
oxidation to become possible. The production 
of good tobacco depends on proper attention 
being paid to these conditions for a sufficient 
length of time, and on stopping the fermenta- 
tion as soon as a sufficient degree of oxidation 
has been reached. Since the desired tempera- 
ture is caused by micro-organisms, naturally 
their conditions for growth must be taken into 
consideration. If the necessary temperature 
can be supplied artificially, the micro-organisms 
can be dispensed with. 
Seeing this, I therefore tried the following 
experiments: Some tobacco leaves, having 
varying degrees of moisture, were. exposed in 
a large glass receptacle to a temperature of 
between 45° to 55° C. (113° to 131° F.). In 
order to ensure that they had access to suffi- 
cient oxygen, the leaves were exposed to 
the air daily, whilst with the control-tests, 
this airing was omitted. Having determined 
by repeated experiments the proper degree of 
moisture, I allowed the process of oxidation 
to continue for varying periods. By this 
means I was able, after treating the leaf for 
fourteen days at temperatures between 45° to 
55° C. (113° to 131° F.), to obtain a tobacco 
that was declared to be of good quality, and 
which kept perfectly well. Leaves subjected 
