A Literary Moment with Thomas Henry Huxley

From Yeast by Thomas H. Huxley

"The quantity of this dirty-looking stuff, that we call the scum and the lees, goes on increasing until it reaches a certain amount, and then it stops; and by the time it stops, you find the liquid in which this matter has been formed has become altered in its quality. To begin with it was a mere sweetish substance, having the flavour of whatever might be the plant from which it was expressed, or having merely the taste and the absence of smell of a solution of sugar; but by the time that this change that I have been briefly describing to you is accomplished the liquid has become completely altered, it has acquired a peculiar smell, and, what is still more remarkable, it has gained the property of intoxicating the person who drinks it."

Miraculously, the full text of this work can be found at Project Gutenberg.

Thomas Henry Huxley: Biologist. Zoologist. Essayist. Nicknamed "Darwin's Bulldog" for his support of the man's theory.

He coined the word "agnostic," to describe his personal philosophy on the topic of religion.

Expert on invertebrates. Then vertebrates.

Thomas Henry Huxley

"Sit down before fact as a little child, be prepared to give up every preconceived notion, follow humbly wherever and to whatever abysses nature leads, or you shall learn nothing."

And turns out I can't make fun of him for his titilating work on bubbly sugars, after all. He actually wrote some damned good stuff. Check out his quotes.

But use your own judgment on the yeast.