14 RESEARCHES ON THE MANUFACTURE 
1:2:3 for the intervals of 35 : 70: 100 days. This indicates 
that at the end of the 5 months of the whole process the fermen¬ 
tation was not yet complete, but would have probably continued 
still longer. The destruction concerns most largely the carbo¬ 
hydrates (starch, dextrin, glucose, etc.), the majority of which, 
probably after saccharification are oxydized. The quantity 
(20.08 parts) decomposed of them does not, however, cover 
the whole loss of organic matter (22.77 parts), 2.69 parts at 
least being left unaccounted for, which fact indicates that 
still other components, very probably the albuminoids, have 
some share in the loss of organic substance. Indeed, next to the 
carbohydrates, the albuminoids are most considerably affected by 
the decomposition, but the latter does not issue in a liberation 
of free nitrogen. The crude fibre undergoes so slight a dimi¬ 
nution, that we may regard the latter as lying within the limits 
of experimental errors. It is a natural consequence of the 
character of fermentative processes that the essential alterations 
take place chiefly in the substances soluble in water. Hence 
we notice in the present case that only 4.5 parts of insoluble 
components disappear, while 18.3 parts of soluble matters are 
lost. An increase is only observed with regard to the ether 
extract and nitrogenous non-albuminous bodies, which is in both 
cases the result of the conversion and decomposition of other 
substances. 
Further information on the course of the fermentation in cases 
when the preparation of miso differs from that carried out with 
the material of our preceding researches, may be gathered from 
the descriptions and analyses given for the 4 sorts of miso 
in the 3rd part of this paper. It appears from those data that, 
provided the operations of steaming and mixing are normally 
performed, the rapidity of the fermentation is principally deter¬ 
mined by the temperature of the beans. The warmer the mix¬ 
ture when it is transferred to the fermenting vat, the more 
rapid is the fermentation, a fact which might have been antici¬ 
pated, since the diastatic and other fermentative processes as, 
well as the development of fungi of the sort of Eurotium Oryzæ, 
