Alcoholic Fermentation - Second Edition, 1914 by Arthur Harden

The subject of Physiological Chemistry, or Biochemistry, is enlarging its borders to such an extent at the present time that no single text-book upon the subject, without being cumbrous, can adequately deal with it as a whole, so as to give both a general and a detailed account of its present position. It is, moreover, difficult, in the case of the larger text-books, to keep abreast of so rapidly growing a science by means of new editions, and such volumes are therefore issued when much of their contents has become obsolete.

For this reason, an attempt is being made to place this branch of science in a more accessible position by issuing a series of monographs upon the various chapters of the subject, each independent of and yet dependent upon the others, so that from time to time, as new material and the demand therefor necessitate, a new edition of each monograph can be issued without reissuing the whole series. In this way, both the expenses of publication and the expense to the purchaser will be diminished, and by a moderate outlay it will be possible to obtain a full account of any particular subject as nearly current as possible.

The editors of these monographs have kept two objects in view: firstly, that each author should be himself working at the subject with which he deals; and, secondly, that a Bibliography, as complete as possible, should be included, in order to avoid cross references, which are apt to be wrongly cited, and in order that each monograph may yield full and independent information of the work which has been done upon the subject.

It has been decided as a general scheme that the volumes first issued shall deal with the pure chemistry of physiological products and with certain general aspects of the subject. Subsequent monographs will be devoted to such questions as the chemistry of special tissues and particular aspects of metabolism. So the series, if continued, will proceed from physiological chemistry to what may be now more properly termed chemical physiology. This will depend upon the success which the first series achieves, and upon the divisions of the subject which may be of interest at the time.



The following chapters are based on courses of lectures delivered at the London University and the Royal Institution during 1909–1910. In them an account is given of the work done on alcoholic fermentation since Buchner's epoch-making discovery of zymase, only in so far as it appears to throw light on the nature of that phenomenon. Many interesting subjects, therefore, have perforce been left untouched, among them the problem of the formation of zymase in the cell, and the vexed question of the relation of alcoholic fermentation to the metabolic processes of the higher plants and animals.

My thanks are due to the Council of the Royal Society, and to the Publishers of the "Journal of Physiology" for permission to make use of blocks (Figs. 2, 4 and 7) which have appeared in their publications.

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