Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1901-07-21
MICROBES UTILIZED -.
!. IN MANY Industries.


BOSTON. July 90. paper recently
read before The Boston Society OF Nat
ural History by Mr.. Samuel c. Prescott.
OF the Massachusetts, Institute Of Tech
nology, deals with subject Of unusual
interest-what may peculiarly be called,
perhaps, a vindication Of the microoe
as useful factor in society. From this
paper, which Is founded on a long ser
les of experiments undertaken in the
biological laboratories Of the institute,
it appears that not oniy--as rs COM
paratively well known--are certain
sorts OF bacteria now used as scavan-
gers to fight their disease-producing
kindred, and not only il 1t generally
recognized that all life depends upon
bacterial activity, but that in a long
list of important Industries success is
quite impossible w,.hout their assist
ance. Knowingly or not, the brewer
uses microbes to secure certain definite
qualities in his product, and the far
mers wife in ripeaing her cream for
churning gives the bacteria which 1t
contains an opportunity to improve the
taste and aroma of her butter. In the
case OF scores Of proaucts-often the
best known and most generally used
people have for centuries cons family
profited by bacterial process without
suspecting that they were doing So
and, consequently, with uncertain sue
cess in the results obtained. But with
in few years, experiments, Of which
Mr.. Prescotts are among the most re.
cent have resulted in what may fairly
be called new science, that OF indus
trial biology" the practical benefit of
which can even now hardly be calcu-
lated.
Investigations into the process of
baking, brewing, and winemaking, the
preparation of skins for tanning, the
dairy and sugar industries, and a great
NUMBER OF changes and reactions form
erly believed to be purely chemical in
character, have shown that the real
work is done by living organisms. 1t Is
all question of fermentation, the
meaning of the word having been ex-
tended to cover multitude of changes
which are alike in having a living cell
as their first cause; so that industrial
biology, broadly speaking, becomes the
science of fermentation, the bacteria be-
ing studied III connection with various
kinds of mould and yeast. A mould Is
a colorless, branching organism that
grows like plant and when submerged
in sugar solutions, without access to
air, gives rise 10 various alcoholic fer
mentation. The various yeasts are
small oval or rounded organisms which
rapidly increase In number under IA
vorable conditions by process of bud
ding, and have an industrial value de-
pendent upon their activity as produ-
IF al bAl
The bacteria, which are smaller and pre-
sumably simpler than either moulds or
yeasts, have greater diversity of fer
menting power and are found nearly
everywhere in enormous numbers-in
air, in water, in eartn. and in food.
They may be rod-shaped like a bit OF
slate pencil, spherical like a pea, or
twisted like corkscrew. They appear
to vary in size, although the average
diameter is roughly given as one TWEEN
ty-fiye thousandth of an inch, which
would mean that somewhere near
billion could be contained in the space
OF single grain of granulated sugar.
When these micro-organisms find them
selves in any suitable nutriment they
grow active and multiply by "fission,"
as the psychologists call it; that, they
are constantly being cut in two, so that
a single microbe may become a million
in the course of a few hours. And this
enormous multiplication continues I'M
til further growth is choked off by lack
of space or by the exhaustion of the
food supply
1t is comforting-and a little sur
prising. perhaps-to learn that organ
lsms so numerous and ubiquitous are
in the main the friends and allies of
humanity. Most persons. too, will
probably have a kinder feeling to-
wards the bacterium and it's various
functions when they learn that it has
vegetable rather than an animal
character For time it was main
tanned that 1t was animal because it
often had hairlike tentacles by means
of which it seemed to be capable of
moving from place to place. The au-
thorities have at last definitely de-
cided, however, that bacteria consti-
tute the lowest order Of plant life and
may be sown to produce certain re-
suits just as the seeds of larger veg
etables are sown.
Perhaps one OF the best illustrations
of the application Of industrial biology
is in buttermaking. Milk, as Is we'll
known, is particularly good medium
for the growth Of bacteria. They be-
gin to appear in it from the time 1t
leaves the cow and are the cause of
the souring which is SO universal that
for long time it was supposed to be
purely natural" change. When milk
is to be used as such it Is better with
out bacteria. Cream which is to be
used in butter making, on the other
hand, produces the best results
when it has undergone 'ripen-
ing" process-fermentatio in other
words-caused by certain kinds of
micro-organisms. Just as distilled
water is tasteless and insipid, SO but
ter made from perfectly fresh cream
is simple fat, and lacks the distin-
gushing favor and aroma which
makes 1t palatable. When cream is al
lowed to stand in the dairy enough Of
the right sort of bacteria usually get
into it to start the proper fermenta-
ton, although in receiving these 1t
may also receive others, less des,r-
able which cause the butter to become
rancid.
With the idea OF reducing uncertainty
to certainty the bacteriologist has sue
ceeded in colonizing the peculiar bac-
terra which have been found to produce
the finest quality Of butter, SO tina. by
the use of such bitter cultures, as they
are called, when the manufacture Is