SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 
Jeaves the oven, under the ordinary conditions of a bakehouse.. The 
“Committee has also carried out a demonstration for nineteen’ months 
‘of the practicability of using a single stock of yeast for the preparation 
‘of bread by making each day’s yeast with a portion of the previous brew. 
“The conditions under which these results have been achieved have been 
studied in detail and precise information has been obtained: im regard to 
the constituents of the wort, aeration, and temperature. . The work. has 
been carried out by the Institute in co-operation with the New South 
Wales Department of Education, which provided the necessary apparatus 
and placed the services of a practical baker at the disposal of the Com- 
mittee. The experimental work has been carried out by Miss M. M. 
‘Lilley. 
Two points require further study, and these are now being investi- 
gated by the Committee. It is desirable to ascertain why apparently 
a particular concentration of the sugar present in the yeast liquor is 
needed, if the yeast is to work rapidly when used in small quantities. 
Secondly, this yeast keeps for only a few days without deterioration. It 
is necessary to find means for preserving the yeast in a potent form for 
‘a longer period. . 
COLD STORAGE OF BEEF. 
~ Research work of considerable interest to Australia has been initiated 
in connexion with the cold storage of beef by the Food Investigation 
‘Board appointed by the British Department of Scientific and Industrial 
Research. The Board has established an expert Committee to investigate 
the question of the methods in use for preserving meat for human con- 
sumption, and especially to consider what improvements are possible 
‘in the preservation of beef during its transit from Australia and New 
‘Zealand to Great Britain. 
It has long been known that, whereas mutton can be frozen without 
impairing its qualities, beef needs much more careful treatment. Freez- 
ing in the ordinary way—that is, by cold air—causes a separation of 
fluid in the substance of the muscle fibres, with the result that on thaw- 
ing, unless somewhat elaborate precautions are taken, there is loss of 
water and soluble constituents, and the texture of meat is impaired. The 
Committee, therefore, decided to set up an inquiry into the cause of the 
peculiar sensitiveness of beef to freezing. Is it, for instance, due to the 
difficulty in abstracting heat from the tissues of so large an animal 
as the ox, or is it due to the colloidal properties and chemical constitution 
of the muscle fibres themselves? Is the permeability of the sarcolemma 
of the muscle fibre of the ox different from that of the sheep? 
The answers to questions such as these can be found only in accurate 
and detailed measurements in a laboratory; they belong to biophysics, 
and by no means to the least intricate region of that science. The work 
as a whole is under the general supervision of Professor W. M. Bayliss, 
¥F.R.S., the laboratory work being conducted in his laboratory at 
University College, London, where a special experimental plant for 
investigations at low temperatures has been installed. For large scale 
experiments a cold store has been acquired in the north of London. 
Nothing could better illustrate the wide application of organized research, 
svhen the basal problems are not lost sight of, than this work. The 
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