1162
INDUXTRIAL A N D ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
known as invertase, described by Mitscherlich and Dobereiner. Berthelot made the first concentrated preparation. Yeast is not able to ferment cane sugar, but it produces an enzyme which inverts cane sugar to glucose and fructose. The work of O’Sullivan and Thompson and of Hudson and Willstatter has greatly increased our knowledge of this enzyme. I n the industry invertase is used in large amounts by bakers, manufacturers of table sirup, and manufacturers of confectionery. SOURCE OF NUCLEIC ACID-Nucleic acid is a product which can be obtained from yeast. This substance has been used to some extent for medicinal purposes. It is also a useful and fascinating compound for the organic chemist and the biochemist. MANUFACTURE O F SAKE-An interesting application of yeast in an industry is its u8e in the manufacture of sake in China and Japan. I n this process the diastatic activity of the mold Aspergilbus oryzae converts the starch to sugar and the yeast converts the sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide. MEDICINAL UsEs-Yeast has been used as a therapeutic agent from the earliest times. Hippocrates and Dioscorides recorded that internal and external treatment with wine yeast gave good therapeutic results. Pliny the Elder called attention to its use. During the Middle Ages yeast was used by the monks as a protective agent against the plague. In 1852 the English physician, Mosse, recommended yeast for carbuncle. I n France since ancient times yeast has been used as a blood-purifying agent. I n 1894-95 Backer, Brocq, Govert, Charlier, and others reported that good results were obtained by the use of yeast in the case of diseases such as furonculosis, folliculitis, abscesses, and skin eruptions. It has been reported that an emulsified yeast introduced directly into the blood stream of horses gave them increased immunity against staphylococcic infection. Spencer in 1920 recommended yeast in arthritis. Huggard and Moreland, Hawk, and also Renshaw have commented favorably on the use of yeast as a general tonic. CARBONDIOXIDEPRODUCTION-Very recently the production of industrial alcohol has become a very great industry. One of the by-products of this industry is carbon dioxide. Recently carbon dioxide has become an important factor in refrigeration in the form of Dry-Ice. SEWAGE DrsPosAL-Yeast has also been used to assist in developing the growth of organisms in sewage-disposal plants. PLAsTIcs-The development of synthetic plastics has given rise to an entirely new series of products for industrial purposes. Yeast has been successfully used in the manufacture of certain plastics. GLYCEROL PRODUCTION-Another product of great importance developed during the war was the manufacture of glycerol by two Germans, Constein and Ludecke. The
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patent application was filed in Germany, April 12, 1915. They found that by fermenting sugar by means of yeast in an alkaline bisuIfite solution they were able to obtain fairly large yields of glycerol. The Germans manufactured a million kilograms per month and obtained a yield of 20 to 25 per cent based on the sugar. Conclusion
From the description given herein it is evident that the art of fermentation had attained a high state of perfection previous to the application of science. I n spite of this, science has greatly transformed the industry within the space of a hundred years. The fermentation industries are not the product of one science or the work of a few individuals. They are the result of a general development and advance of all the sciences and arts. They represent the painstaking labor of generations of artisans and craftsmen and a century or more of scientific thought. Acknowledgment The writer wishes to acknowledge the assistance of H. C. Gore, S. J6zsa, R. F. Light, and A. Schultz in the preparation of this manuscript. Bibliography Aykroyd and Roscoe, Biockem. J . , 23, 483 (1929). Delbriick. Illustriertes Brennerei Lexikon. Delbruck and Schrohe, “Hefe, Garung und Faulnis.” Dennett, J . A m . Med. Assocn., 92, 769 (1929). Duclaux, “Pasteur-The History of a Mind.” Eijkman, Virck. Arch., 149, 187 (1897). Eijkman, Ibid., 148, 523 (1897). Euler, Chemie der Hefe. Funk and Macallum, J . B i d . Chem., 23, 413 (1915). Harden, “Alcoholic Fermentation.” Hess, Science, 60, 269 (1924). Hoobler, J . A m . Med. Assocn., 91, 307 (1928). Hopkins, J . Phrsiol., 44, 425 (1912). Hunt and Krauss, J . B i d . Chem., 79, 733 (1928). Illustriertes Brauerei Lexikon, 1910 and 1925. Jago, William and Pi. C.,“Technology ‘of Bread Making.” Jorgensen, “Microorganisms and Fermentation.” J . Federated Insl. Brewing, 6 (1900). Kiby, Handbuch der Presshefenfabrikation. Lafar, Handbuch der technischen Mykologie. Macy, Outhouse, Graham, and Long, J . Bid. Chem., 73, 189 (1927). iMcCollum and Davis, Ibid., 16, 67 (1913). McCollum, “Newer Knowledge of Nutrition,’’ Macmillan, New York. MusDratt. “Chemie.” Osbirne and Mendel, J . B i d . Chem., 31, 149 (1917).
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~ o ~ ~ ~ n ~ ~ ~ a ’ , ” , ’(1914). “ , , Stahl, Zymotechnia Steenbock and Black, J . id. Chem., 61, 405 (1924). Stephenson, “Bacterial Metabolism.”
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Williams and Waterman, J . B ~ O Z Chem., . 78, 311 (1928).
Cause of “Ginger Jake” Paralysis Discovered The United States Public Health Service has proof that technical triorthocresyl phosphate was the cause of thousands of cases of paralysis attributed to drinking Jamaica ginger. Ginger itself is completely exonerated. The Jamaica ginger drink responsible for the paralysis was adulterated with the tricresyl phosphate, Ginger snaps, ginger bread, and other ginger delicacies need not be shunned for fear of the disease. The United States Public Health Service has no record of a single case of paralysis caused by ginger put out by a reputable pharmaceutical manufacturer. The adulterant that caused the paralysis is a relative of carbolic acid. It is widely used in the manufacture of varnishes, shellacs, etc. It is cheap and easily obtainable and was probably
used because its physical characteristics make it hard t o distinguish from normal ginger constituents. Definite proof of the guilt of this compound was found by pharmacological and chemical studies made by M. I. Smith, of the National Institute of Health. Chemists of the Prohibition Bureau had found a similar substance in suspected extracts of ginger. Doctor Smith’s studies were made with various animals. Symptoms of a paralysis similar to those caused in men and women who drank the extract were produced in animals by the technical triorthocresyl phosphate. The adulterated ginger extracts probably contained 2 per cent of the phosphate. The compound has a remarkably specific action on the motor nerves, Doctor Smith found.
