Constant - "Private Life of Napoleon Bonaparte, V8"

Emile Zola - "The Three Cities Trilogy: Lourdes, Vol. 4"

Pierre Loti - "Madame Chrysantheme, v4"

Unknown - "The Koran"

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PHILADELPHIA, Pa. -- The Philadelphia literary world will celebrate the launch of two new players today, April 10th: Kay Square Press, a new publishing company focused on Philadelphia-area artists, their stories, and their art; and Kay Square's first release, 'With the Rich and Mighty: Emlen Etting of Philadelphia' (ISBN: 978-0-9815129-0-7), a critical biography by Kenneth C. Kaleta.

FlatSigned Press Alleges Don Imus Remarks Damage Legacy of President Gerald R. Ford
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Books: The Harvard Classics Volume 38

V >> Various >> The Harvard Classics Volume 38




"M. Pasteur gives the result of his researches on the
fermentation of sugar and the development of yeast-cells,
according as that fermentation takes place apart from the
influence of free oxygen or in contact with that gas. His
experiments, however, have nothing in common with those of Gay-
Lussac, which were performed with the juice of grapes crushed
under conditions where they would not be affected by air, and
then brought into contact with oxygen.

"Yeast, when perfectly developed, is able to bud and grow in a
saccharine and albuminous liquid, in the complete absence of
oxygen or air. In this case but little yeast is formed, and a
comparatively large quantity of sugar disappears--sixty or eighty
parts for one of yeast formed. Under these conditions
fermentation is very sluggish.

"If the experiment is made in contact with the air, and with a
great surface of liquid, fermentation is rapid. For the same
quantity of sugar decomposed much more yeast is formed. The air
with which the liquid is in contact is absorbed by the yeast. The
yeast develops very actively, but its fermentative character
tends to disappear under these conditions; we find, in fact, that
for one part of yeast formed, not more than from four to ten
parts of sugar are transformed. The fermentative character of
this yeast nevertheless, continues, and produces even increased
effects, if it is made to act on sugar apart from the influence
of free oxygen.

"It seems, therefore, natural to admit that when yeast functions
as a ferment by living apart from the influence of air, it
derives oxygen from the sugar, and that this is the origin of its
fermentative character.

"M. Pasteur explains the fact of the immense activity at the
commencement of fermentations by the influence of the oxygen of
the air held in solution in the liquids, at the time when the
action commences. The author has found, moreover, that the yeast
of beer sown in an albuminous liquid, such as yeast-water, still
multiplies, even when there is not a trace of sugar in the
liquid, provided always that atmospheric oxygen is present in
large quantities. When deprived of air, under these conditions,
yeast does not germinate at all. The same experiments may be
repeated with albuminous liquid, mixed with a solution of non-
fermentable sugar, such as ordinary crystallized milk-sugar. The
results are precisely the same.

"Yeast formed thus in the absence of sugar does not change its
nature; it is still capable of causing sugar to ferment, if
brought to bear upon that substance apart from air. It must be
remarked, however, that the development of yeast is effected with
great difficulty when it has not a fermentable substance for its
food. In short, the yeast of beer acts in exactly the same manner
as an ordinary plant, and the analogy would be complete if
ordinary plants had such an affinity for oxygen as permitted them
to breathe by appropriating this element from unstable compounds,
in which case, according to M. Pasteur, they would appear as
ferments for those substances.

"M. Pasteur declares that he hopes to be able to realize this
result, that is to say, to discover the conditions under which
certain inferior plants may live apart from air in the presence
of sugar, causing that substance to ferment as the yeast of beer
would do."

This summary and the preconceived views that it set forth have
lost nothing of their exactness; on the contrary, time has
strengthened them. The surmises of the last two paragraphs have
received valuable confirmation from recent observations made by
Messrs. Lechartier and Bellamy, as well as by ourselves, an
account of which we must put before our readers. It is necessary,
however, before touching upon this curious feature in connection
with fermentations to insist on the accuracy of a passage in the
preceding summary; the statement, namely, that yeast could
multiply in an albuminous liquid, in which it found a non-
fermentable sugar, milk-sugar, for example. The following is an
experiment on this point:--On August 15th, 1875, we sowed a trace
of yeast in 150 cc. (rather more than 5 fluid ounces) of yeast--
water, containing 2 1/2 per cent, of milk-sugar. The solution was
prepared in one of our double-necked flasks, with the necessary
precautions to secure the absence of germs, and the yeast sown
was itself perfectly pure. Three months afterwards, November
15th, 1875, we examined the liquid for alcohol; it contained only
the smallest trace; as for the yeast (which had sensibly
developed), collected and dried on a filter paper, it weighed
0.050 gramme (0.76 grain). In this case we have the yeast
multiplying without giving rise to the least fermentation, like a
fungoid growth, absorbing oxygen, and evolving carbonic acid, and
there is no doubt that the cessation of its development in this
experiment was due to the progressive deprivation of oxygen that
occurred. As soon as the gaseous mixture in the flask consisted
entirely of carbonic acid and nitrogen, the vitality of the yeast
was dependent on, and in proportion to, the quantity of air which
entered the flask in consequence of variations of temperature.
The question now arose, was this yeast, which had developed
wholly as an ordinary fungus, still capable of manifesting the
character of a ferment? To settle this point we had taken the
precaution on August 15th, 1875, of preparing another flask,
exactly similar to the preceding one in every respect, and which
gave results identical with those described. We decanted this
November 15th, pouring some wort on the deposit of the plant,
which remained in the flask. In less than five hours from the
time we placed it in the oven, the plant started fermentation in
the wort, as we could see by the bubbles of gas rising to form
patches on the surface of the liquid. We may add that yeast in
the medium which we have been discussing will not develop at all
without air.

The importance of these results can escape no one; they prove
clearly that the fermentative character is not an invariable
phenomenon of yeast-life, they show that yeast is a plant which
does not differ from ordinary plants, and which manifests its
fermentative power solely in consequence of particular conditions
under which it is compelled to live. It may carry on its life as
a ferment or not, and after having lived without manifesting the
slightest symptom of fermentative character, it is quite ready to
manifest that character when brought under suitable conditions.
The fermentative property, therefore, is not a power peculiar to
cells of a special nature. It is not a permanent character of a
particular structure, like, for instance, the property of acidity
or alkalinity. It is a peculiarity dependent on external
circumstances and on the nutritive conditions of the organism.




II. FERMENTATION IN SACCHARINE FRUITS IMMERSED IN CARBONIC ACID
GAS


The theory which we have, step by step, evolved, on the subject
of the cause of the chemical phenomena of fermentation, may claim
a character of simplicity and generality that is well worthy of
attention. Fermentation is no longer one of those isolated and
mysterious phenomena which do not admit of explanation. It is the
consequence of a peculiar vital process of nutrition which occurs
tinder certain conditions, differing from those which
characterize the life of all ordinary beings, animal or
vegetable, but by which the latter may be affected, more or less,
in a way which brings them, to some extent within the class of
ferments, properly so called. We can even conceive that the
fermentative character may belong to every organized form, to
every animal or vegetable cell, on the sole condition that the
chemico-vital acts of assimilation and excretion must be capable
of taking place in that cell for a brief period, longer or
shorter it may be, without necessity for recourse to supplies of
atmospheric oxygen; in other words, the cell must be able to
derive its needful heat from the decomposition of some body which
yields a surplus of heat in the process.

As a consequence of these conclusions it should be an easy matter
to show, in the majority of living beings, the manifestation of
the phenomena of fermentation; for there are, probably, none in
which all chemical action entirely disappears, upon the sudden
cessation of life. One day, when we were expressing these views
in our laboratory, in the presence of M. Dumas, who seemed
inclined to admit their truth, we added: "We should like to make
a wager that if we were to plunge a bunch of grapes into carbonic
acid gas, there would be immediately produced alcohol and
carbonic acid gas, in consequence of a renewed action starting in
the interior cells of the grapes, in such a way that these cells
would assume the functions of yeast cells. We will make the
experiment, and when you come to-morrow--it was our good fortune
to have M. Dumas working in our laboratory at that time--we will
give you an account of the result." Our predictions were
realized. We then endeavoured to find, in the presence of M.
Dumas, who assisted us in our endeavour, cells of yeast in the
grapes; but it was quite impossible to discover any. [Footnote:
To determine the absence of cells of ferment in fruits that have
been immersed in carbonic acid gas, we must first of all
carefully raise the pellicle of the fruit, taking care that the
subjacent parenchyma does not touch the surface of the pellicle,
since the organized corpuscles existing on the exterior of the
fruit might introduce an error into our miscroscopical
observations. Experiments on grapes have given us an explanation
of a fact generally known, the cause of which, however, had
hitherto escaped our knowledge. We all know that the taste and
aroma of the vintage, that is, of the grapes stripped from the
bunches and thrown into tubs, where they get soaked in the juice
that issues from the wounded specimens, are very different from
the taste and aroma of an uninjured bunch. Now grapes that have
been immersed in an atmosphere of carbonic acid gas have exactly
the flavour and smell of the vintage; the reason is that, in the
vintage tub, the grapes are immediately surrounded by an
atmosphere of carbonic acid gas, and undergo, in consequence, the
fermentation peculiar to grapes that have been plunged into this
gas. These facts deserve to be studied from a practical point of
view. It would be interesting, for example, to learn what
difference there would be in the quality of two wines, the grapes
of which, in the once case, had been perfectly crushed, so as to
cause as great a separation of the cells of the parenchyma as
possible; in the other case, left, for the most part, whole, as
in the case in the ordinary vintage. The first wine would be
deprived of those fixed and fragrant principles produced by the
fermentation of which we have just spoken, when the grapes are
immersed in carbonic acid gas, by such a comparison as that which
we suggest we should be able to form a priori judgment on the
merits of the new system, which had not been carefully studied,
although already widely adopted, of milled, cylindrical crushers,
for pressing the vintage.]

Encouraged by this result, we undertook fresh experiments on
grapes, on a melon, on oranges, on plums, and on rhubarb leaves,
gathered in the garden of the Ecole Normale, and, in every case,
our substance, when immersed in carbonic acid gas, gave rise to
the production of alcohol and carbonic acid. We obtained the
following surprising results from some prunes de
Monsieur:[Footnote: We have sometimes found small quantities of
alcohol in fruits and other vegetable organs, surrounded with
ordinary air, but always in small proportion, and in a manner
which suggested its accidental character. It is east to
understand how, in the thickness of certain fruits, certain parts
of those fruits might be deprived of air, under which
circumstances they would have been acting under conditions
similar to those under which fruits act when wholly immersed in
the carbonic acid gas. Moreover, it would be useful to determine
whether alcohol is not a normal product of vegatation.]--On July
21, 1872, we placed twenty-four of these plums under a glass
bell, which we immediately filled with carbonic acid gas. The
plums had been gathered on the previous day. By the side of the
bell we placed other twenty-four plums, which were left there
uncovered. Eight days afterwards, in the course of which time
there had been a considerable evolution of carbonic acid from the
bell, we withdrew the plums and compared them with those which
had been left exposed to the air. The difference was striking,
almost incredible. Whilst the plums which had been surrounded
with air (the experiments of Berard have long since taught us
that, under this latter condition, fruits absorb oxygen from the
air and emit carbonic acid gas in almost equal volume) had become
very soft and watery and sweet, the plums taken from under the
jar had remained very firm and hard, the flesh was by no means
watery, but they had lost much sugar. Lastly, when submitted to
distillation, after crushing, they yielded 6.5 grammes (99.7
grains) of alcohol, more than 1 per cent, of the total weight of
the plums. What better proof than these facts could we have of
the existence of a considerable chemical action in the interior
of fruit, an action which derives the heat necessary for its
manifestation from the decomposition of the sugar present in the
cells? Moreover, and this circumstance is especially worthy of
our attention, in all these experiments we found that there was a
liberation of heat, of which the fruits and other organs were the
seat, as soon as they were plunged in the carbonic acid gas. This
heat is so considerable that it may at times be detected by the
hand, if the two sides of the bell, one of which is in contact
with the objects, are touched alternately. It also makes itself
evident in the formation of little drops on those parts of the
bell which are less directly exposed to the influence of the heat
resulting from the decomposition of the sugar of the cells.
[Footnote: In these studies of plants living immersed in carbonic
acid gas, we have come across a fact which corroborated those
which we have already given in reference to the facility with
which lactic and viscous ferments, and generally speaking, those
which we have termed the disease ferments or beer, develop when
deprived of air, and which shows, consequently, how very marked
their aerobian character is. If we immerse beet-roots or turnips
in carbonic acid gas, we produce well-defined fermentations in
those roots. Their whole surface readily permits the escape of
the highly acid liquids, and they become filled with lactic,
viscous, and other ferments, This shows us the great danger which
may result from the use of pits, in which the beet-roots are
preserved, when the air is not renewed, and that the original
oxygen is expelled by the vital processes of fungi or other
deoxidizing chemical actions. We nave directed the attention of
the manufacturers of beet-root sugar to this point.]

In short, fermentation is a very general phenomenon. It is life
without air, or life without free oxygen, or, more generally
still, it is the result of a chemical process accomplished on a
fermentable substance capable of producing heat by its
decomposition, in which process the entire heat used up is
derived from a part of the heat that the decomposition of the
fermentable substance sets free. The class of fermentations
properly so called, is, however, restricted by the small number
of substances capable of decomposing with the production of heat,
and at the same time of serving for the nourishment of lower
forms of life, when deprived of the presence and action of air.
This, again, is a consequence of our theory, which is well worthy
of notice,

The facts that we have just mentioned in reference to the
formation of alcohol and carbonic acid in the substance of ripe
fruits, under special conditions, and apart from the action of
ferment, are already known to science. They were discovered in
1869 by M. Lechartier, formerly a pupil in the Ecole Normale
Superieure, and his coadjutor, M. Bellamy. [Footnote: Lechartier
and Bellamy, Comptes rendus de l'Academie des Sciences, vol.
lxix., pp., 366 and 466, 1869.] In 1821, in a very remarkable
work, especially when we consider the period when it appeared,
Berard demonstrated several important propositions in connection
with the maturation of fruits:

I. All fruits, even those that are still green, and likewise even
those that are exposed to the sun, absorb oxygen and set free an
almost equal volume of carbonic acid gas. This is a condition of
their proper ripening.

II. Ripe fruits placed in a limited atmosphere, after having
absorbed all the oxygen and set free an almost equal volume of
carbonic acid, continue to emit that gas in notable quantity,
even when no bruise is to be seen--"as though by a kind of
fermentation," as Berard actually observes--and lose their
saccharine particles, a circumstance which causes the fruits to
appear more acid, although the actual weight of their acid may
undergo no augmentation whatever.

In this beautiful work, and in all subsequent ones of which the
ripening of fruits has been the subject, two facts of great
theoretical value have escaped the notice of the authors; these
are the two facts which Messrs. Lechartier and Bellamy pointed
out for the first time, namely, the production of alcohol and the
absence of cells of ferments. It is worthy of remark that these
two facts, as we have shown above, were actually fore-shadowed in
the theory of fermentation that we advocated as far back as 1861,
and we are happy to add that Messrs. Lechartier and Bellamy, who
at first had prudently drawn no theoretical conclusions from
their work, now entirely agree with the theory we have advanced.
[Footnote: Those gentlemen express themselves thus: "In a note
presented to the Academy in November, 1872, we published certain
experiments which showed that carbonic acid and alcohol may be
produced in fruits kept in a closed vessel, out of contact with
atmospheric oxygen, without our being able to discover alcoholic
ferment in the interior of those fruits.

"M. Pasteur, as a logical deduction from the principle which he
has established in connection with the theory of fermentation,
considers that THE FORMATION OF ALCOHOL MAY BE ATTRIBUTED TO THE
FACT THAT THE PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL PRECESSES OF LIFE IN THE
CELLS OF FRUIT CONTINUE UNDER NEW CONDITIONS, IN A MANNER SIMILAR
TO THOSE OF THE CELLS OF FERMENT. Experiments, continued during
1872, 1873, and 1874, on different fruits have furnished results
all of which seem to us to harmonize with this proposition, and
to establish it on a firm basis of proof."--Comptes rendus, t.
lxxix., p. 949, 1874.] Their mode of reasoning is very different
from that of the savants with whom we discussed the subject
before the Academy, on the occasion when the communication which
we addressed to the Academy in October, 1872, attracted attention
once more to the remarkable observations of Messrs. Lechartier
and Bellamy. [Footnote: PASTEUR, Faites nouveaux pour servir a la
connaissance de la theorie des fermentations proprement dites.
(Comptes rendus de l'Academie des Sciences, t. lxxv., p. 784.)
See in the same volume the discussion that followed; also,
PASTEUR, Note sur la production de l'alcool par les fruits, same
volume, p. 1054, in which we recount the observations anterior to
our own, made by Messrs. Lechartier and Bellamy in 1869.] M.
Fremy, in particular, was desirous of finding in these
observations a confirmation of his views on the subject of hemi-
organism, and a condemnation of ours, notwithstanding the fact
that the preceding explanations, and, more particularly our Note
of 1861, quoted word for word in the preceding section, furnish
the most conclusive evidence in favor of those ideas which we
advocate. Indeed, as far back as 1861 we pointed out very clearly
that if we could find plants able to live when deprived of air,
in the presence of sugar, they would bring about a fermentation
of that substance, in the same manner that yeast does. Such is
the case with the fungi already studied; such, too, is the case
with the fruits employed in the experiments of Messrs. Lechartier
and Bellamy, and in our own experiments, the results of which not
only confirm those obtained by these gentlemen, but even extend
them, in so far as we have shown that fruits, when surrounded
with carbonic acid gas immediately produce alcohol. When
surrounded with air, they live in their aerobian state and we
have no fermentation; immersed immediately afterwards in carbonic
acid gas, they now assume their anaerobian state, and at once
begin to act upon the sugar in the manner of ferments, and emit
heat. As for seeing in these facts anything like a confirmation
of the theory of hemi-organism, imagined by M. Fremy, the idea of
such a thing is absurd. The following, for instance, is the
theory of the fermentation of the vintage, according to M. Fremy.
[Footnote: Comptes rendus, meeting of January 15th, 1872.]







"To speak here of alcoholic fermentation alone," our author says,
"I hold that in the production of wine it is the juice of the
fruit itself that, in contact with air, produces grains of
ferment, by the transformation of the albuminous matter; Pasteur,
on the other hand, maintains that the fermentation is produced by
germs existing outside of the grapes." [Footnote: As a matter of
fact, M. Fremy applies his theory of hemi-organism, not only to
the alcoholic fermentation of grape juice, but to all other
fermentations. The following passage occurs in one of his notes
(Comptes rendus de l'Academie, t. lxxv., p. 979, October 28th,
1872):

"Experiments on Germinated Barley.--The object of these was to
show that when barley, left to itself in sweetened water,
produces in succession alcoholic, lactic, butyric, and acetic
fermentations, these modifications are brought about by ferments
which are produced inside the grains themselves, and not by
atmospheric germs. More than forty different experiments were
devoted to this part of my work."

Need we add that this assertion is based on no substantial
foundation? The cells belonging to the grains of barley, or their
albuminous contents, never do produce cells of alcoholic ferment,
or of lactic ferment, or butyric vibrios. Whenever those ferments
appear, they may be traced to germs of those organisms, diffused
throughout the interior of the grains, or adhering to the
exterior surface, or existing in the water employed, or on the
side of the vessels used. There are many ways of demonstrating
this, of which the following is one: Since the results of our
experiments have shown that sweetened water, phosphates, and
chalk very readily give rise to lactic and butyric fermentations,
what reason is there for supposing that if we substitute grains
of barley for chalk, the lactic and butyric ferments will spring
from those grains, in consequence of a transformation of their
cells and albuminous substances? Surely there is no ground for
maintaining that they are produced by hemi-organism, since a
medium composed of sugar, or chalk, or phosphates of ammonia,
potash, or magnesia contains no albuminous substances. This is an
indirect but irresistible argument against the hemi-organism
theory.]

Now what bearing on this purely imaginary theory can the fact
have, that a whole fruit, immersed in carbonic acid gas,
immediately produces alcohol and carbonic acid? In the preceding
passage which we have borrowed from M. Fremy, an indispensable
condition of the transformation of the albuminous matter is the
contact with air and the crushing of the grapes. Here, however,
we are dealing with UNINJURED FRUITS IN CONTACT WITH CARBONIC
ACID GAS. Our theory, on the other hand, which, we may repeat, we
have advocated since 1861, maintains that all cells become
fermentative when their vital action is protracted in the absence
of air, which are precisely the conditions that hold in the
experiments on fruits immersed in carbonic acid gas. The vital
energy is not immediately suspended in their cells, and the
latter are deprived of air. Consequently, fermentation must
result. Moreover, we may add, if we destroy the fruit, or crush
it before immersing it in the gas, it no longer produces alcohol
or fermentation of any kind, a circumstance that may be
attributed to the fact of the destruction of vital action in the
crushed fruit. On the other hand, in what way ought this crushing
to affect the hypothesis of hemi-organism? The crushed fruit
ought to act quite as well, or even better than that which is
uncrushed. In short, nothing can be more directly opposed to the
theory of the mode of manifestation of that hidden force to which
the name of hemi-organism has been given, than the discovery of
the production of these phenomena of fermentation in fruits
surrounded with carbonic acid gas; whilst the theory, which sees
in fermentation a consequence of vital energy in absence of air,
finds in these facts the strictest confirmation of an express
prediction, which from the first formed an integral part of its
statement.