Fermentation and its bearings on the phenomena of disease : a discourse delivered in the City Hall, Glasgow, October 19, 1876; under the auspices of the Glasgow Science Lectures association / by John Tyndall.

  • John Tyndall
Date:
1877
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Fermentation and its bearings on the phenomena of disease : a discourse delivered in the City Hall, Glasgow, October 19, 1876; under the auspices of the Glasgow Science Lectures association / by John Tyndall. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    distributed that an infusion like beer-wort, exposed to the air, is almost sure to be taken possession of by foreign organisms. In fact the maladies of beer are wholly due to the admixture of these objectionable ferments, whose forms and modes of nutrition differ materially from those of the true leaven. Working in an atmosphere charged with the germs of these organisms, you can understand how easy it is to fall into error in studying the action of any one of them. Indeed it is only the most accomplished experimenter, who, moreover, avails himself of every means of checking his conclusions, that can walk without tripping through this land of pitfalls, Such aman is the French chemist Pasteur. He has taught us how to separate the commingled fer- ments of our air, and to study their pure individual action. Guided by him, let us fix our attention more particularly upon the growth and action of the true yeast-plant under different conditions. Let it be sown in a fermentable liquid, which is supplied with plenty of pure air. The plant will flourish in the aérated infusion, and produce large quantities of carbonic acid gas—a compound, as you know, of carbon and oxygen. The oxygen thus consumed by the plant is the free oxygen of the air, which we suppose to be abundantly supplied to the liquid. The action is so far similar to the _ respiration of animals, which inspire oxygen and expire carbonic acid. If we examine the liquid even when the vigour of the plant has reached its maximum, we hardly find in it a trace of alcohol. The yeast has grown and flourished, but it has almost ceased to act as a ferment. And could every individual yeast cell seize, without any impediment, free oxygen from the surroundiug liquid, it is certain that it would cease to act as a ferment altogether. What, then, are the conditions under which the yeast- plant must be placed so that it may display its characteristic quality? Reflection on the facts already referred to suggests a reply, and rigid experiment confirms the suggestion. Con- sider the Alpine cherries in their closed vessel. Consider the beer in its barrel, with a single small aperture open to the air, through which it is observed not to imbibe oxygen, but to pour forth carbonic acid. Whence come the volumes
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