The Press., 1888-05-17
Issued Every. Thursday Evening.

| leSSneSR, ana nave been fe1eVeu WlJn chloral hydrate, will think better of alcohol when I tell you that substance is due to alcohol. Nitrite of amyl, another very valuable remedy, is an offspring of alco- hol. These examples are enough to dem- onstrate that those speak rashly who would attribute alcohol 10 the devil.
 We now come to ask another inter- esting question who makes alcohol Man generally gets the credit of this, but l think l shall be able to show you that he does not deserve it. Man hds made alco- hol, that Is he has combined simpler ele- ments together, by process which chem ists call synthesis, and has thus mauufac. tured iu his laboratory the substance of which we are speaking. think I am safe Ill saying that no man was ever yet intox- icated with alcohol made in this way. Man has never made alcohol on large scale; the little he has produced has been strictly for scientific purposes-to widen our knowledge of the laws of organic chem ! istry, and of chemical compounds. Man has competitor in this business, and one that can undersell him every time. This formidable rival is yeast. It is this sub- stance that is responsible for the produc- tion of the alcohol with which the world is inundated. Yeast, however, enjoys most excellent reputation. Like the wholesale rum seller, 1t moves ill the best society. It rises to the most select circles. It is eagerly sought for by prohibitionists and teetotal- CTS. You have all, probably, witnessed the painful sight of distressed woman standing at her door-yard gate with an empty tel-cup in her hand, mour lfully gazingafter long-looked for yeast peddler slowly departing out of sight and hearing. The frantic efforts which she makes to ex- cite the attention of the obtuse vender are sufficient to demonstrate how necessary for the domestic economy is this alcoholic ferment. Some enthusiastic temperance advocate may tell us that man compels the yeast to make the alcohol-that yeast is merely hls servant. I will allow that man has shown himself very willing to avail himself of the services of this accommo- dating excitcr of fermentation, but I still maintain that it is yeast that makes the al cohol. Does man make honey, or the bee? think you will all allow that it is the bee. The man may own the bee he may have enticed him into a hive he may make him his servant and rob him of the product of his labor, but it is the bee that makes the honey. l might ask you who makes the milk you drink. I presume that you would reply that it depends on who the milkman is but think that you will admit that the COW generally con. tributes the most essential part, and that you would prefer to have the COW rather than its owner manufacture your supply. Let some worthy farmer extract the juice of his super-abundant apples. Let him place the liquid in cleal barrels. Now if we arm ourselves with a straw and proceed to investigate the character of the contents of the barrel, we shall find them sweet and rafrpShino lut o too protracted performance with the straw, i've are apt to feel depressed rather than stimulated. We are likely to experience the sensations that result from too free Indulgence in confectionery at a drive whist party. The farmer may desire tc keep those liquifed apples in just that condition, but he will find the greatest difficulty in doing so; and, if he is pru dent man, he will be sure and leave the bungs out In few days a commotion arises in the casks frothy substance ex udes from their apertures. And now il would be very unsafe for a young man to approach them; for the cider, in it's pres ent condition, Is dangerous, and the young mans friends may be called upon to use force in removing him from the straw, to which he is liable to become immovably fixed. We say the apple juice has fer.
 
 that it contains alcohol. Did the farmer make the alcohol? He may be deacon and teetotaler, and very much opposed to his apple juice behaving in this man. ner; but it does so, in spite of him. What has gotten into the barrels? They were cleau at the start, and the farmer has put no yeast into them, and still the cider grows more and more sour and intoxicat- ing. l answer you that yeast has gotten into the barrels of, it's own accord, and is doing it's work there the same as if it had been Iurposely added The process that it excites there is clled fermentation, and it is worth our while to try and get clear conception of its nature.
 You are all familiar with the gross ap- pearanee of yeast. Ordinary yeast, you know, is brownish fluid. Of what is the fluid composed? Is it a chemical com pound or mixture of such compounds In the year 1880 0 Dutch philosopher, named Leeuwenhoek, placed some yeast under his microscope, and found it filled with great number of small bodies. This was great discovery, but it was not util- ized for more than 150 years. The micro. scope of that day was a very primitive in- strumeut, and did not disclose as much to the observaut eye as those of later construc. ton. In 1888, Schwaun, German micro scopist, and Cagniard de la Tour, a French man, took up the study of yeast, independ- ently of each other. With their more per feet microscopes, they discovered much more than Leeuwenhoek had been able to- They found that the little bodies, of which the yeast largely consists, are little spherical or ovoid particles. These particles are ex. tremely minute, and consist of m outer bag or membrane and inner semi fluid contents. These form the essential part of yeast, and are inc manufacturers of alec hol. They are vegetable cells; ill fact each individual cell is an independent plant. It would require about 5000 of these little bodies to cover a line an inch long. A football filled with oatmeal mush would represent, ,on large scale, the structure of one of tho ss diminutive vege. tables. The cell membrane, however, is transparent, and we are able to look thro it, and see the semi fluid substance that fills up the cell This little object, invisi- ble to the naked-eye, has name, which I presume that you would all like to remem- Der. Itis called dsacchar0n3yces cereUjside. When we survey the sGccharontyces cere- visiar under the microscope, we are im- pressed with the fact that thing may be small, and yet be a great power in the world. These microscopic bodies repre-. | 4 l. l. f -f -.T-