CHEillCAL SCIENCE. 237 



ceeded in manufacturing from naphthaline (a product of the de- 

 structive distillation of coal) the substance known as alizarine, the 

 coloring principle of the root madder, so extensively used in calico- 

 printing. The process by which this result is effected was also made 

 public, and is simple and inexpensive. The alizarine produced thus 

 artificially has all the characteristics of the alizarine obtained from 

 madder, and, like it, may be used as a dye-agent. The discovery is 

 one which promises to be of great industrial value, and may lead to 

 the abandonment of the cultivation of madder. 



IODINE WATERS OF BAVARIA. 



Perhaps there is no country in the world so rich in mineral 

 springs containing iodine as Bavaria. The waters of Heilbrunn, the 

 iodine spring of Salzbrtmn, near Kernpten, and the waters of Krank- 

 enheil, near Tolz, are known everywhere ; and only a few months 

 ago a new spring with the same ingredients has been discovered at 

 the foot of the Bavarian Alps at Partenkirchen, near the Kanitz 

 spring. According to the analysis of it just made by Professor Buch- 

 ner, it is one of the strongest iodine waters which is known. If the 

 water is acidulated with a few drops of nitric acid, and a solution of 

 starch is then added, an intense blue color is immediately perceived ; 

 if it is then shaken together with sulphuretted carbon it becomes red, 

 etc. The water of Heilbrunn, however, is still stronger than this 

 one. The iodine is contained in this new spring as iodide of sodium, 

 and, besides this, carbonate of soda and a considerable quantity of 

 sulphuretted hydrogen are found in it ; so that the water can also be 

 used as a sulphur spring. 



INTERESTING RESEARCHES ON FERMENTATION". 



A very important and interesting result respecting fermentation 

 has recently been presented to the French Academy by M. Pasteur. 

 The various products formed during the so-called lactic acid fermen- 

 tation are well known. Lactic acid, a gum mannite, butyric acid, 

 alcohol, carbonic acid, and hydrogen, appear simultaneously or suc- 

 cessively in extremely variable proportions, and very capriciously. 

 M. Pasteur states that he has been slowly led to the recognition of 

 the fact that the vegetable ferment which transforms sugar into 

 lactic acid is different from that of those (for two exist) which de- 

 termine the production of the gummy matter ; and that the latter, in 

 their turn, do not generate lactic acid. He has also ascertained that 

 these several vegetable ferments cannot under any circumstances, if 

 in a pure state, give rise to the formation of butyric acid. It fol- 

 lows, therefore, that a distinct butyric ferment must exist. After a 

 long research the author has succeeded in detecting this body. He 

 finds that the butyric acid ferment is an infusorial animal. The au- 

 thor for a long time took pains to remove and exclude these little 

 animals, from the idea that they were feeding upon the vegetable sub- 

 stance which he supposed was the butyric ferment, and which he was 

 seeking to detect in the liquid media he employed. But failing by 

 that means to ascertain the cause of the origin of the butyric acid, 



