On Fermentation Vol 20 Classic Reprint

Author : Arthur Harden
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781332523986
Total Pages : 170 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (239 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Alcoholic Fermentation (Classic Reprint) written by Arthur Harden and published by . This book was released on 2015-08-09 with total page 170 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from Alcoholic Fermentation The problem of alcoholic fermentation, of the origin and nature of that mysterious and apparently spontaneous change which converted the insipid juice of the grape into stimulating wine, seems to have exerted a fascination over the minds of natural philosophers from the very earliest times. No date can be assigned to the first observation of the phenomena of the process. History finds man in the possession of alcoholic liquors, and in the earliest chemical writings we find fermentation, as a familiar natural process, invoked to explain and illustrate the changes with which the science of those early days was concerned. Throughout the period of alchemy fermentation plays an important part; it is, in fact, scarcely too much to say that the language of the alchemists and many of their ideas were founded on the phenomena of fermentation. The subtle change in properties permeating the whole mass of material, the frothing of the fermenting liquid, rendering evident the vigour of the action, seemed to them the very emblems of the mysterious process by which the long sought for philosopher's stone was to convert the baser metals into gold. As chemical science emerged from the mists of alchemy, definite ideas about the nature of alcoholic fermentation and of putrefaction began to be formed. Fermentation was distinguished from other chemical changes in which gases were evolved, such as the action of acids on alkali carbonates (Sylvius de le Boe, 1659); the gas evolved was examined and termed gas vinorum, and was distinguished from the alcohol with which it had at first been confused (van Helmont, 1648); afterwards it was found that like the gas from potashes it was soluble in water (Wren, 1664). The gaseous product of fermentation and putrefaction was identified by MacBride, in 1764, with the fixed air of Black, whilst Cavendish in 1766 showed that fixed air alone was evolved in alcoholic fermentation and that a mixture of this with inflammable air was produced by putrefaction. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.