Ferments and their actions / by Carl Oppenheimer ; Translated from the German by C. Ainsworth Mitchell.

Date:
1901
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Ferments and their actions / by Carl Oppenheimer ; Translated from the German by C. Ainsworth Mitchell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    of alcohol and carbon dioxide in plants was studied, notably by Pasteur,1 Muntz,2 Traube,3 and Lechartier and Bellamy.4 Alcohol is mainly produced when air is excluded—e.g., in the interior of the trunk (Devaux,5 Berthelot6), in the seed (Maze 7), &c. Even in plucked fruits, alcohol frequently occurs (Dumont,8 Dobereiner,9 Gmelin 10). Yet we must take into account here the possibility that mould-fungi may have been able, in spite of precautions, to penetrate from the exterior surface (Brefeld n). Evolution of carbon dioxide (without alcohol) was observed by Cahours12 in plants when oxygen was excluded, and in fresh fruit; and by Bohm 13 in green leaves which were kept under water. Effront,14 too, claims to have detected zymase in cherries, but has not looked for alcohol. On the other hand, many mould-fungi produce alcohol in their cells when oxygen is excluded—e.g., Aspergillus (Pasteur), Penicillium, Botrytis and species of Oidium (Brefeld11). Closely connected with these observations is the fact that yeast cells ferment themselves when kept in the absence of oxygen in solu- tions containing no sugar. In this process alcohol and carbonic acid are formed, in addition to the products of proteolytic ferments (q-v.). The statement of Schunck 15 is also interesting—that, in the fermentation of madder, the decomposition of ruberythric acid by erythrozyme (q.v.), the production of alcohol, succinic acid, and carbon dioxide can be detected. As Schunck himself admits, the experiments, which were put aside for a long time, were not made under conditions ensuring the absolute exclusion of micro-organisms. He intends to repeat them, and we may look forward with interest for his results. 1 Pasteur, Comptes Bendus, lxxv., 1056, 1872. 2 Muntz, Comptes Bendus, lxxxvi., 46, 1878. 3 Traube, Ber. d. d. chem. Ges., vii., 885, 1874. 4 Lechartier and Bellamy, Comptes Bendus, lxix., 466, 1869 ; lxxv,, 1204; lxxix., 949, 1006. 5 Devaux, Comptes Bendus, cxxviii., 1346, 1899. 6 Berthelot, Comptes Bendus, cxxviii., 1366. 7 Mazb, Comptes Bendus, cxxviii., 1608, 1899; cxxx., 424, 1900. 8 Dumont, Trommsdorff s Journ.f. Pharm., iii., [2], 563, 1819. 9 Dobereiner, Schweigger’s Journ.f. Chem., liv., 418, 1828. 10 Gmelin, Hcindb. d. theovet. Chemie, ii., 1103, 1829. Quoted by Dopping and Struve, loc. cit. 11 Brefeld, Landw. Jahrb. (Thiel), 827, 1876. 12 Cahours, Comptes Bendus, lviii., 495, 635, 1864. 13 Bohm, Sitzb. Wiener Acad., lxvii. [1], 211, 1873. 14 Effront, Les Diastases, 302. 15 Schunck, Ber. d. d. chem. Ges., xxxi., 309, 1898.