Burton-on-Trent and brewing

Reviewing Pasteur s separation of racemic acid, he noted that Le Bel afterwards extended these observations to optically active amyl alcohol and propyl glycol, whilst Lewkowitsch was the first who showed that by varying the microorganisms, either the dextro- or laevo-compound (in the case of mandelic acid) could be destroyed at will (Frankland, 1885, 

Clearly the study of the chemical transformations which micro-organisms and enzymes would catalyse was a fitting study for organic chemists. Nevertheless, they were not entirely familiar with the good microbiological practice necessary for reproducible experiments, and a physician from St. Bartholomew s Hospital reminded them that 

The group remaining at Burton included Horace Brown, Cornelius O Sullivan and Peter Greiss. Greiss was mostly noted for his work on 

The science of microbiology in this period at Burton was as advanced as anywhere in Europe. It is interesting to reflect that in Britain, as well as in France, the stimulus for the work in biocatalysis was still the brewing industry. Brown deplored the title Studies in Fermentation given to the English translation of Pasteur s Etudes sur la biere (Pasteur, 1876)  

How far this change of title was made with the consent of the author does not appear in the translator s preface, but, be that as it may, the alteration was a very unfortunate one, since it has helped to obscure the very dose connection which exists between the subsequent developments of Pasteur s work in preventative medicine and these earlier studies on beer. 

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