Secrets of Nature Discovered

...we think, however it happens, it will always represent one and the same figure to us; if, however, we compress them slightly, these six again constitute a certain round shape; so much so that all these irregular particles arise from there only because the wine dregs yeast are not only tightly compressed, but also when they are dissolved in water, many globules are separated from each other. To further satisfy myself in this matter, I took wine that was in a state of agitation (working) Leeuwenhoek uses the Dutch term arbeyd (modern arbeid), referring to the active process of fermentation., and placed it into a fresh flask, and left it in my study original: musæo, referring to his private laboratory until I judged the agitation had ceased. Afterwards, I took the dregs, or impure matter, which was at the bottom of the flask, and which was truly the dregs of the wine; I saw that it consisted of globules, and each of these consisted of six distinct globules, which I judged to be a little smaller than the globules of blood, or the dregs of beer yeast.

Furthermore, I placed three distinct types of sweet wine original: vini dulcis (stifled wine) Leeuwenhoek uses the Dutch term stomme Wijn ("dumb wine"). This was wine where fermentation was halted, often using sulfur, to keep it sweet. into three separate glasses and placed them in my study so they might ferment there; two of these became agitated; and I saw, not without wonder, a very large quantity of air bubbles which formed over several consecutive days; for from small imperfections in the glass, I saw such a quantity of air bubbles emerging—and they were so tiny and followed each other with such speed—that they could hardly be distinguished, even though I was using a better microscope than usual. These air bubbles, in their ascent (to the surface of the wine), were so linked together that there seemed to be almost no separation between them; but since these bubbles continuously increased in size during their ascent, they had scarcely risen the width of a hair before two, three, or four bubbles would, as it were, coalesce and thus form much larger air bubbles. In this ascent, the air bubbles caused a greater agitation in the wine than usual, and continually carried up with them a great abundance of globules that were already "perfect" and consisted of six globules,

• Note: This kind of wine exists in France; it is put into vessels that are heavily treated with sulfur so that the wine does not ferment, and in this way, it retains its sweetness.