Page:A Treatise on the Culture of the Vine and, and the Art of Making Wine.pdf/190

 to preserve a uniform heat in the fermenting mass.

It had often been observed, that the process of fermentation might be moderated or retarded, by withdrawing the must from the direct action of the air, and keeping it under a cold teinperature. And hence, some chemists have considered the air of the atmosphere as indispensable to fermentation. A more attentive examination of all the phenomena which the march of fermentation presents, will assist in giving due weight to all the opinions which have been advanced on this subject.

That the air is favourable to fermentation, there can be no doubt. This is a point established by the accordance of all the known facts connected with the subject, and without its contact, the must continues long without undergoing any change. But, it is equally certain, that though the must, deposited in close vessels, undergoes, very slowly, the process of fermentation, it terminates at length, and the wine resulting from it is even more generous than when fermented in contact with the air.

If a little of the yeast of beer and molasses, is diluted in water, and introduced into a flask with a bent neck, which is made to open under a bell