A History of Science — Volume 4Williams, Henry Smith
History
A History of Science — Volume 4
Williams, Henry Smith
Science -- History
"Let us take a glass flask with a long neck of from two hundred and
fifty to three hundred cubic centimetres capacity, and place in it some
wort, with or without hops, and then in the flame of a lamp draw out the
neck of the flask to a fine point, afterwards heating the liquid until
the steam comes out of the end of the neck. It can then be allowed to
cool without any other precautions; but for additional safety there
can be introduced into the little point a small wad of asbestos at the
moment that the flame is withdrawn from beneath the flask. Before thus
placing the asbestos it also can be passed through the flame, as well as
after it has been put into the end of the tube. The air which then first
re-enters the flask will thus come into contact with the heated glass
and the heated liquid, so as to destroy the vitality of any dust germs
that may exist in the air. The air itself will re-enter very gradually,
and slowly enough to enable any dust to be taken up by the drop of water
which the air forces up the curvature of the tube. Ultimately the tube
will be dry, but the re-entering of the air will be so slow that the
particles of dust will fall upon the sides of the tube. The experiments
show that with this kind of vessel, allowing free communication with the
air, and the dust not being allowed to enter, the dust will not enter
at all events for a period of ten or twelve years, which has been the
longest period devoted to these trials; and the liquid, if it were
naturally limpid, will not be in the least polluted neither on its
surface nor in its mass, although the outside of the flask may become
thickly coated with dust. This is a most irrefutable proof of the
impossibility of dust getting inside the flask.
"The wort thus prepared remains uncontaminated indefinitely, in spite
of its susceptibility to change when exposed to the air under conditions
which allow it to gather the dusty particles which float in the
atmosphere. It is the same in the case of urine, beef-tea, and
grape-must, and generally with all those putrefactable and fermentable
liquids which have the property when heated to boiling-point of
destroying the vitality of dust germs."(7)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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