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MIKULAS TEICH, Bier, Wissenschaft and Wirtschaft in Deutschland 1800-1914: Ein Beitrag zur deutschen Industrial-- isierungsgeschichte. Vienna: Bohlau, 2000. Pp. 353. ISBN 3-205-99239-3. DM 69.80 (hardback).
On the eve of the First World War, Germany's beer industry was its second largest, bigger than steel or coal and following only engineering. This book is evidently the first to examine the 'industrialization' of this sector in Germany during the nineteenth century, paying particular attention to technical innovation and the incorporation of scientific knowledge.
Teich finds the beginnings of 'scientization' in about 1800, when German brewers were becoming aware of eighteenth-century British attempts to measure temperature and changes in specific weight during fermentation (in an attempt to produce beer of standard strength) which were published in technical journals. Partly to counter the common problem of spoilage, some in the industry began to call for the establishment of schools of...