ON  THE  ALCOHOLIC  FERMENTATION. 
339 
tained  if  the  juices  were  expressed  in  an  ordinary  press  and 
afterwards  placed  in  vessels.  The  gases  were  expelled  by 
ebullition.  Oranges,  citrons,  pomgranates,  pears,  and  pippins 
gave  quantities  of  gas  diminishing  in  the  order  of  the  names ; 
the  gas  consisted  of  carbonic  acid  and  nitrogen  in  various  pro- 
portions, but  no  oxygen,  hydrogen,  carbonic  oxide,  or  carbu- 
retted  hydrogen  was  found.  A  ripe  fruit  enclosed  in  air  was 
found,  to  absorb  hydrogen  very  rapidly,  and  if  allowed  to  re- 
main until  it  became  soft,  the  juice  was  found  to  contain  a  very 
large  quantity  of  gas  rich  in  carbonic  acid,  the  air  in  which  it 
was  enclosed  containing  carbonic  acid  also.  It  is  intended  to 
examine  the  gases  contained  in  the  juice  from  the  commence- 
ment of  development  to  the  time  when  it  has  attained  its  com- 
plete maturity. — Chem.  News,  London,  April  9,  18G4. 
ON  THE  ALCOHOLIC  FERMENTATION. 
By  M.  Bechamp. 
The  author  remarks  that  two  orders  of  ferments  exist — one 
soluble,  and  therefore  not  organized,  of  which  diastase  may  be 
taken  as  the  type,  the  other  organised,  and  therefore  insoluble. 
The  action  of  the  former  is  invariable  and  specific;  that  of  the 
latter,  in  a  chemical  point  of  view,  is  essentially  variable,  like 
that  of  all  organized  beings.  The  so-called  fermentation  of 
cane  sugar  set  up  by  beer  yeast  is  thus  explained:  The  yeast 
plant  first  of  all  transforms  cane  sugar  into  glucose  outside  it- 
self by  means  of  a  product  which  it  contains  ready  formed  in 
its  organism,  and  which  the  author  calls  zymase ;  the  plant 
then  absorbs  the  glucose,  digests  and  assimilates  it,  grows  and 
multiplies,  and  finally  throws  on0  the  used  parts  of  its  tissues 
in  the  form  of  the  numerous  compounds  known  as  the  products 
of  fermentation,  just  as  human  beings  throw  out  their  waste 
in  the  form  of  urea,  &c.  According  to  this  theory  the  alcohol, 
&c,  must  come  from  the  yeast,  and  should  be  obtained  from 
yeast  perfectly  free  from  glucose,  which  the  author's  experi- 
ments prove  does  in  fact  furnish  alcohol.  M.  Be*champ  found 
also  that  the  Mycoderma  Aceti  in  contact  with  cane  sugar 
yielded  alcohol,  which  it  is  thus  seen  may  be  formed  without 
sugar  by  yeast,  and  with  sugar  by  another  organism  similar  to 
