324 ANNUAL OP SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



bright and oily superficially. No article is probably adulterated to a 

 greater extent than ground coffee. And it is always better for the 

 consumer to have his coffee ground at home, rather than run the risk 

 of drinking an infusion of chickory, ground beans and peas, ochre, 

 brick-dust, &c. Ground coffee in addition, even if genuine, soon 

 loses its aroma by keeping. 



VALUE OF THE ARTICHOKE AS AN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCT. 



RECENT investigations of this common root show that 100 parts by 

 weight of the tubers contain 23.90 of alimentary substance, being 

 richer in nitrogenous, fatty, and saccharine matters, and in phosphates, 

 than potatoes. It therefore follows that the artichoke would prove 

 most valuable for the fattening of pigs, cows, and animals generally, 

 and its cultivation for this purpose is well worth the attention of 

 farmers. As the tubers do not contain amylaceous substances, and 

 are very easily soluble and digestible, it would be best to mix them 

 with other aliments more resistant and less humid ; such, for example, 

 as dry fodder, bran, and grains, which would be ameliorated by the 

 mixture. As to the difficulty of limiting their spontaneous repro- 

 duction, that may be prevented by the cultivation within boundaries, 

 especially of plants which are cut down in the green, making weeded 

 or hoed plants succeed them. The stems of the young artichokes also 

 constitute a good green fodder. Proceedings of the National French 

 Agricultural Society. 



ATMOSPHERIC DISSEMINATION OF ALGOUS PLANTS. 



THE following observations on the atmospheric dissemination of 

 algous plants were made, by Dr. Burnett, at a meeting of the Boston 

 Society of Natural History, in July : " The occurrence of minute 

 algae and spores in liquids and infusions, under circumstances ren- 

 dering it improbable that they could have been introduced from with- 

 out, is a fact constantly falling under the eye of the microscopal 

 observer. These facts, viewed in different relations, have served 

 in some hands as arguments for the doctrine of equivocal genera- 

 tion ; and in others as the groundwork for theories as to the true 

 cause of miasmatic diseases. While making some experiments upon 

 diabetic urine (the abundant presence in which of the common ferment 

 alga, Torula cerevisia, is well known), I was surprised to find all 

 the common liquids in its neighbourhood pervaded by the same alga, 

 and particularly those exhibiting any tendency to decomposition. This 

 led me to think that the dissemination of this minute plant took place by 

 the medium of the atmosphere, which was full of its spores. Some ex- 

 periments with air-tight and partially covered vessels of liquid, placed 

 near the original source, showed this to be true. And even now, 

 several weeks after its occurrence, the atmosphere of the room seems 

 to have retained many of the spores ; for liquids placed as before soon 

 contain many of the plants. I state this fact, because I think a.n un- 

 due share of importance has been attached to the presence of fungi 



