uncrushed fruit, and sometimes to such changes as begin in animals and vegetables as soon as death has taken place.2

In a sense, in the words of the old proverb, Everything which lives is born dying;" and in this sense, like everything organic-like man, bird, beast and plant-grape juice, fermented or unfermented, bears within itself the germ of corruption. The term fermentation, however, is generally given to such special processes as—

I. The Alcoholic or Vinous fermentation; that accompanied by the formation of alcohol-the only fermentation with which the Scripture wine question has to do.

2. The Acetous fermentation; that accompanied by the formation of vinegar.

I

"The maturation or sweetening of winter fruits, when stored up for their preservation in straw, is the result of a true fermentation" (Liebig, Lett. xviii.). "After being packed up at Tayf in an unripe state, it [fruit sold at Djidda] acquires a factitious maturity by fermentation during the journey" (Burckhardt, "Not. Bed. and Wahab," ii. 55. Lond. 1831). "A long fermentation in the uncrushed cluster" (Prof. Bouchardat on "Wine of St. Raphael,” p. 9. Lond. 1878).

2 "As few individuals have an oil press, they have often to wait so long that the olives fall into a state of fermentation, which is succeeded by putrefaction" (De Salis, "Trav.,” p. 477. Lond. 1795).

3. The Lactic fermentation; that by means of which milk sours and curdles.

FERMENTATION OF GRAPE JUICE AND MILK ANALOGOUS.

The fermentation of grape juice and the fermentation of milk are analogous (Dr. T. Willis, F.R.S., on "Ferment.," vol. i. pp. 60, 62. Lond. 1681).

In the one, grape sugar is decomposed by the ferment torula or saccharomyces cerevisia (Huxley and Martin, 1; "Prac. Biol.," 3rd ed., p. 1 ; “Encyc. Brit.," 9th ed., art. "Alcohol," p. 470; "Brit. Med. Journ.," No. 903, p. 579).

In the other, sugar of milk is decomposed by the ferment bacterium lactis (Lister, " B. M. J.," No. 875, 6th October, 1877). The fermentation of both the animal and vegetable substances begins in the same way. In both it can be prevented or checked by similar precautions; and allowed to proceed, in both it ends in putrefaction (Liebig, "Lett. Chem.," 3rd ed., p. 224; 2nd ser., p. 132).

Momentary contact with the organic germs in

"At Chorla and neighbouring villages, the first thing they do after milking the cows and sheep is to boil the milk, without which they say it would not keep" (H. J. Hamilton, F.G.S., "Res. As. Min. Pont. and Armen.,” ii. p. 316. Lond. 1842).

the air sets up the same series of changes in each liquid, so that if juice freshly expressed from the grape be called fermented, so also must milk newly drawn from the cow. In other words, milk, which we know to be sweet, must be said to be sour.

The series of changes which, unchecked or unhindered, ends in the putrefaction of a mutton chop is, in a general sense, a process of fermentation; and if it be correct to designate must before the vinous fermentation has set in as a "fermented wine," we cannot avoid speaking of the fresh and juicy specimen of animal flesh that we, as Englishmen, delight in, as a “putrid chop" (Dr. N. Kerr, "Unfermented Wine a Fact," pp. 6, 7. Lond. 1879).

VINOUS FERMENTATION NOT IMMEDIATE. There are thus various fermentations, alcohol being the product of vinous fermentation, which process is set up by the yeast plant.

Vinous fermentation is not immediate on the expression of the juice from the fruit, but begins sometimes in a few hours, sometimes not for days. Fermentation cannot take place except under certain conditions, and the absence of these conditions can be secured by the adoption of practical

measures.

MODES OF PREVENTING FERMENTATION.

Fermentation can be prevented in various ways. I. By Cold. Fermentation does not take place at a temperature below 40° Fahr.

II. By Heat. We kept grape juice for lengthened periods, unfermented and free from alcohol, by the following applications of heat:

1. The juice heated to 32° below the boiling point of 212° Fahr., poured into a new pig-skin, and tied tightly close to the contents.

2. The juice heated in an air-tight vessel in boiling water.

3. The juice freely exposed to air laden with yeast germs, and heated daily to 27° Fahr. below boiling point.

4. Juice boiled daily for one month and freely exposed to yeast-saturated atmosphere.

One

III. By Inspissation, to one-half, one-third, and one-fourth of the original bulk of the juice. specimen after seven years contained no alcohol. IV. By Evaporation, to dryness, yielding portable wine like the modern "portable soup."

I That the application of heat does not injure the must is shown in the following extract from Thudicum and Dupré : "The boiling of the must leaves the wine paler and of the same flavour as unboiled must." (Thudicum and Dupré, "Or. Nat. and Use of Wine," p. 650. Lond. 1872.)

V. By much sugar.

VI. By Antiseptics. Juice treated with sulphurous or salycilic acid. Juice unheated passed through tow washed with weak solution of carbolic acid. The tanning of the skin bottles of the ancients gave antiseptic action.

VII. By Destruction and Exclusion of Yeast Germs.

VIII. By Sulphurization. Casks and bottles sulphured and tightly closed. This must never ferments. (Muspratt, "Chem.," ii. 1119; Redding, p. 42; Sutton, "Cult. Grape Vine,” pp. 163, 164.)

"ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA" ON FERMENTATION.

In the ninth edition of the "Encyclopædia Britannica," art. Fermentation, will be found a lucid statement of the conditions of vinous fermentation, which in almost every particular accurately describes the results at which I arrived from my own experiments. The author (Professor Dittmar) says that fermentations are, chemically speaking, non-spontaneous. "No fermentable chemical species will ferment except in presence of water, and unless it be kept by means of that water in direct contact with some specific ferment." Grape juice when left