PASTEUR ON FERMENTATION. 709 



the weeds of America, and a large proportion of her worst insect pests, 

 including two beetles, viz., the asparagus-beetle {Crioceris asparagi) 

 and the elm-leaf beetle {Galeruca ealmariensis), in the very same fam- 

 ily as our dori/phora, have been imported from Euroije, there would 

 seem poor foundation for such an argument. Moreover, a number of 

 other insects among them some beetles of less importance, may 

 be included in the number of importations ; and the rape-butterfly 

 {Pleris rapce), whose progress westward has been simultaneous with 

 that of the doryphora eastward, and whose importation dates back 

 but a few years, bears witness to the fact that insects more delicate, 

 and with fewer chances of safe transport than doryphora^ may suc- 

 ceed in getting alive from one country to the other, and in gaining a 

 foothold in a new home. The ravages of the insect, bad as tliey are, 

 very naturally get exaggerated at such a distance from its native 

 home, and the following from an English gardening periodical gives 

 altogether a too gloomy picture : ' When once a field of potatoes has 

 been attacked, all hoj^es of a harvest must be given up ; in a few days 

 it is changed into an arid waste, a mere mass of dried stalks.' It 

 should not be forgotten that the American cultivator, by means of in- 

 telligence and a little Paris-green, is pretty much master of the dory- 

 phora.^'' It is to be hoped that this exposition of the facts and prob- 

 abilities of the case will put people on their guard, aud cause intelli- 

 gent action to be taken to prevent the importation of so dangerous a 

 pest as this potato-beetle. The Garden. 



PASTEUR ON FERMENTATION.' 



THANSL^TED BY L. A. STIMSON, M. I*. 



DURING the months of March and April a spirited discussion 

 took place in the Academic de M6decine, at Paris, on fermenta- 

 tion and kindred subjects, in the course of which M. Pasteur was 

 called upon again to sustain and develop his theory of this process, 

 which is now so generally accepted. His share in the discussion was 

 marked by the brilliancy of exposition and accuracy of experiment 

 which have made him perhaps the most formidable debater among 

 our modern savants. We have not here the space to speak of the cer- 

 tainty with which he seizes upon the central point of the discussion, 

 and the tenacity with which he clings to it, the rapidity with which 

 he exposes the weak points of an adversary's argument, and the ab- 

 solute confidence shared even by his bitterest opponents in the accu- 

 racy of his experiments and statements. What now follows is the^ 



1 Bulletin de I'Academie de Medecine, 2d and 9th of March, 1875. 



