ON VINOUS FERMENTATION. 
53 
sugar with which the white of egg has been mixed, can, by a 
temperature of 95° F., sustained for some time, undergo the 
vinous fermentation and produce a deposit of yeast. 
From these analogies, I supposed that similar deposits should 
afford under the microscope the same traces of organization as 
thoseof the fermentof beer; I consequently effected differentfer- 
mentations in close vessels, especially on the juice of the goose- 
berry, of the grape, of the plum, as well as in a solution of sugar 
and white of egg, these liquids having been filtered previous 
to being introduced into their respective vessels; and on ex- 
amining by the microscope the deposit obtained, I perceived 
that each of the deposits was composed in a large part * of 
globules analogous to the globules of the yeast of beer, results 
which agree in a remarkable manner with the observations of 
M. Thenard. 
All those who are engaged in large fermentations, especially 
brewers and distillers of spirits from grain, know that in spite 
of all the care with which they carry on their operations, the 
results are extremely variable; these irregularities are also 
favorable to the hypothesis that the vinous fermentation is ex- 
cited by bodies endowed with life, for we do not know in how 
many different manners such bodies may be affected. 
We know from M. Thillorier, that the carbonic acid may 
become concrete by a certain degree of cold, and that in this 
state its temperature is inferior to that of frozen mercury. 
This skilful and ingenious experimenter had the kindness to 
place at my disposal some of the solid acid, which I mixed 
with the dry ferment reduced to fine powder. This ferment 
although it was thus exposed to a temperature excessively 
low, — that is to say, to 60° cent., and perhaps more, below 
zero, — was not the less fitted for the subsequent decomposi- 
tion of sugar in as active a manner as before it was subjected 
to this cold. 
* Independent of these globules, we can distinguish in certain deposits 
some other bodies ; as, for example, crystals in the deposit furnished by 
grape juice, and shapeless flocculi in that produced by the experiment 
with albumen. 
