Abstract
BREWING is an industry which, as a rule, does not excite the interest in scientific minds that it deserves. The reason is difficult to explain, for there is no industry which involves more problems of general scientific moment, or makes more varied calls on the different sciences. As an illustration—noting very briefly a few points in the manufacture of beer—we have in malting a study of the embryological development of the barley plant, and the secretion and use by the growing embryo of those curious enzymes which render both the carbohydrate and proteid food of the endosperm available; in the mashing, or infusion of malt with water, we meet with the action of the enzyme, diastase, upon starch, involving some of the most complex molecular changes known; and in fermentation, produced both by the Saccharomyces and Bacteria, we have all the interesting difficulties connected with the morphology and zymotic powers of these organisms. It is evident that any technical scientific work on such subjects as those just mentioned, involves questions of the greatest general scientific interest, and touches on points at the extreme limit of our present knowledge; consequently, it is not surprising to find that science owes some most important advances to scientific workers in the field of brewing. For instance, our knowledge of the constitution of starch, and the changes it undergoes during hydrolysis by the action of acids and diastase, is almost entirely due to the researches of C. O'Sullivan and of Horace Brown, both connected with the industry of brewing.
A Text-book of the Science of Brewing.
By E. R. Moritz G. H. Morris, Ph.D. Based upon a Course of Six Lectures delivered by E. R. Moritz at the Finsbury Technical College. (London: E. and F. N. Spon, 1891.)
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Science and Brewing . Nature 45, 100 (1891). https://doi.org/10.1038/045100a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/045100a0