a ling train of experiments, made in various ways, and often repeated, I ascertained that the proportion in which these ingredients exist in sugar, are nearly eight parts oy hydrogen, 64 parts of oxygen, and 28 parts charcoal, all by weight, forming 100 parts of sugar.
Sugar must be mixed with about four times its weight of water, to render it susceptible of fermentation; and even then the equilibrium of its elements would remain undistrurbed, without the assistance of some substance, to give a commencement to the fermentation. This is accomplished by means of a little yeast from bee; and, when the fermentation is once excited, it continues of itself until completed. I shall, in another place, give an account of the effects of yeast, and other ferments, upon the fermentable substances. I have usually employed 10 libs. of yeast, in the state of the paste, for each 100 libs. of sugar, with as much water as is four times the weight of the sugar. I shall give the results of my experiments exactly as they were obtained, preserving even the fractions produced by the calculation.
