^"^■^y'/Jso^"""-}       Diffusive  Properties  of  Iron.  265 
Atkinson,  Professor  of  Chemistry  at  Tokio,  Japan,  describes  the  action 
of  the  ferment  which  the  Japanese  use  instead  of  malt  in  brewing  pro- 
cesses. The  fermenting  body  is  called  Koji,  and  is  prepared  as  follows: 
Washed  rice  is  soaked  in  water  until  soft  ;  it  is  then  steamed  for  some 
hours,  until  the  starch  has  gelatinized.  When  lukewarm,  the  mass  is 
sprinkled  with  spores  of  the  fungus  Eurotium  ory%ea.  The  grains  are 
then  well  mixed  and  exposed  in  trays  to  a  temperature  of  about  25°C. 
In  three  days  the  mass  is  cemented  together  by  the  silky  filaments  of 
the  mycelium  and  forms  the  "koji"  which  is  used  instead  of  malt  in 
the  brewing  process.  When  extracted  with  water,  koji  yields  a  solu- 
tion reducing  the  Fehling  test.  When  digested  with  water  for  about 
ten  minutes  the  solution  gives  about  12  to  14  per  cent  of  glucose. 
Korschett  has  shown  ("  Dingler's  Polytech.  Jour.,"  230,  p.  76)  that 
the  cold  aqueous  extract  of  koji  has  properties  resembling  those  of 
malt,  and  when  added  to  gelatinized  starch  renders  it  limpid  and  forms 
sugar.  He  also  concluded  that  the  temperature  of  40°  to  50°C.  was  the 
most  favorable  to  this  change.  The  author  of  the  present  paper  comes 
to  the  conclusion  that  the  starch  breaks  up  in  this  process  into  glucose 
and  dextrin  instead  of  maltose  and  dextrin,  as  in  our  mashing  operations. 
A  mixture  of  koji,  steamed  rice  and  water  is  made  in  the  cold.  On 
the  5th  to  the  7th  days  the  mash  is  warmed  by  introducing  tubes  filled 
with  hot  water.  Further  additions. of  steamed  rice  and  water  were 
made  between  the  14th  and  17th  days,  and  again  on  the  i8th  day,  a 
fourth  addition  of  steamed  rice,  ferment  and  water  took  place.  The 
mash  was  then  pressed,  and  during  the  interval  the  small  quantity  of 
dextrin  underwent  fermentation,  and  the  specific  rotatory  power  of  the 
filtered  liquid  became  almost  nil.  The  filtered  liquid  (Sake),  which 
contains  the  water  used  to  rinse  out  the  fermenting  tubes,  contains  11-14 
per  cent,  alcohol;  glycerin  and  resin,  i"99;  fixed  acid,  0*13;  volatile 
acid,  0"02;  water,  86'72.  The  fermentation  is  probably  spontaneous. 
The  size  of  the  ferment  cells  is  a  little  less  than  that  of  beer  yeast. — 
Chem.  News.,  April  9,  1880,  p.  169. 
THE  DIFFUSIVE  PROPERTIES  OF  SOME  PREPARA- 
TIONS OF  IRON. 
By  Proeessor  Redwood. 
Attention  has  recently  been  directed  to  the  properties  possessed  by 
1  Read  at  an  evening  meeting  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Society  of  Great  Britain, 
March  3,  1880. 
