Note 120 — Chapter VI · THE PHYSIOLOGICAL THEORY OF FERMENTATION.

In these experiments, in which the moulds remain for a long time in contact with a saccharine wort out of contact with oxygen—the oxygen being promptly absorbed by the vital action of the plant (see our Mémoire sur les Générations dites Spontanées, p. 54, note)—there is no doubt that an appreciable quantity of alcohol is formed because the plant does not immediately lose its vital activity, after the absorption of oxygen.

A 300-c.c. (10-oz.) flask, containing 100 c.c. of must, after the air in it had been expelled by boiling, was opened and immediately re-closed, on August 15th, 1873. A fungoid growth—a unique one, of greenish-grey colour—developed from spontaneous impregnation, and decolorized the liquid, which originally was of a yellowish-brown. Some large crystals, sparkling like diamonds, of neutral tartrate of lime, were precipitated. About a year afterwards, long after the death of the plant, we examined this liquid. It contained 0·3 gramme (4·6 grains) of alcohol, and 0·053 gramme (0·8 grain) of vegetable matter, dried at 100° C. (212° F.). We ascertained that the spores of the fungus were dead at the moment when the flask was opened. When sown, they did not develop in the least degree.