181 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



the result of inducing fermentation in the otherwise 

 barren fluids, as well as those in which unaltered 

 urine ferments under the influence of the high 

 generating temperature of 122° E. (50° C), all 

 alike point to the same conclusion. They 

 show, as other experiments have done, that an 

 exclusive germ-theory of fermentation is untenable ; 

 and they show further that living matter may and 

 does originate independently during the progress of 

 fermentation in previously germless fluids. As a 

 result of the fermentative changes taking place in 

 boiled urine or other complex organic solutions, 

 many ' new chemical compounds are produced. 

 Gases are given off, or these, with other soluble 

 products, mix imperceptibly with the changing and 

 quickening mother-liquid, in all parts of which 

 certain insoluble products also make their appear- 

 ance. Such insoluble products reveal themselves 

 to us as specks of protoplasm, that is, of 'living' 

 matter. They gradually emerge into the region of 

 the visible, and speedily assume the well-known 

 forms of one or other variety of Bacteria. These 

 insoluble particles would thus in their own persons 

 serve to bridge the narrow gulf between certain 

 kinds of 'living' and of 'dead' matter, and thereby 

 afford a long sought-for illustration of the transition 

 from chemical to so-called 'vital' combinations." 



ZOOLOGY. 



The British Association Meeting at Glas- 

 gow. — The meeting at Glasgow, commencing on 

 the Gth of September, is expected to be a very good 

 one. The guarantee fund is the largest yet sub" 

 scribed, amounting to nearly £7,000. The " Chal- 

 lenger " naturalists will be present, and undoubtedly 

 many of their discoveries will be discussed, as Sir 

 "Wyville Thomson is to deliver one of the two 

 usual " Discourses " to the members. Lieut. 

 Cameron will, no doubt, be the " lion " of the 

 popular Geographical Section. The following places 

 have been secured for the use of the Association : — 

 The University, where, as at present arranged, all 

 the sections, except the Geographical and Ethno- 

 logical Section (Section E), will meet, Section E 

 meeting in the large upper hall of the Queen's 

 Rooms. At the "University also .will be the re- 

 ception and refreshment, rooms. Kelvin-grove 

 Museum. — This will be the receptacle for the exhi- 

 bitions of machinery, of chemicals, and textile 

 fabrics. Queen's llooms. — Here will be held an 

 exhibition of the zoological and botanical collections 

 of the district, and here also the meetings of Sec- 

 tion E will take place. The upper Corporation 

 Galleries will be lilled with a geological exhibition, 

 there being no room in the museum at the University 

 to accommodate more than the Archaeological 

 Section, in addition to the permaneut and temporary 



exhibits already arranged there. The City Hall 

 and the Botanic Garden Palace have also been 

 secured for the use of the Association. The Cham- 

 bers of the Association, where all inquiries may 

 be made, will be found at 135, Buchanan-street. A 

 great many of the citizens have indicated their 

 w r ish to receive guests, and a list is being drawn up 

 of expected visitors, from which guests may be 

 selected. It has been arranged that excursions will 

 take place on Saturday, the 9 th, and Thursday, the 

 14th of September, to the following, among other 

 places: — Arran, Lochlomond, Loch Eyne, and the 

 Holy Loch, Coatbridge, and Paisley. Mr. A. B. 

 Stewart has placed his yacht at the disposal of the 

 Association, as has also Mr. Duncan, of Benmore, 

 for dredging expeditions. It is intended that there 

 will be at least one dredging excursion to the Pirth 

 of Clyde, or other suitable place. Mr. Duncan will 

 also receive at Benmore a party of 100, who go the 

 round by Loch Eyne, for whom he has arranged a 

 delightful excursion. Mr. Martin, of Auchendennan, 

 will receive a party at dinner there, and Mr. Camp- 

 bell, of Tulliechewan, and Mr. Matheson, of 

 Cordale, have also intimated their desire to show 

 hospitality to members of the Association visiting 

 Dumbartonshire. Mr. Ellis will entertain a party 

 at luncheon at Coatbridge after inspection of the 

 North British Wireworks, and Sir Peter and Mr. 

 Thomas Coates are expected to do the same at 

 Paisley. 



The "Challenger" Spoils. — According to 

 Nature, Prof. Wyville Thomson had not set foot 

 long in England before presenting in person a pre- 

 liminary quota of his results to the learned bodies. 

 Two papers read by him at the Linnean Society on 

 June 1, embodied observations on Echinodermata, 

 a group to which, as is well known, he previously 

 had paid much attention. One of the communi- 

 cations described some new living Crinoids belonging 

 to the Apiocrinidje. Of deep-sea forms the stalked 

 crinoids are extremely rare, and have a special 

 interest on account of their palacontological rela- 

 tions ; it was therefore with satisfaction that near 

 St. Paul's Bocks, at 1,850 fathoms, the trawl brought 

 up, among other things, an entire specimen of a 

 new crinoid, Bathjcrinus Aldricldanus, and frag- 

 ments of another, Hyocrinus bethcllianus. At other 

 stations and on different occasions, were obtained 

 another species of Bathjcrinus (B. gracilis) and an 

 undetermined beautiful little species of Hyocrinus, 

 besides examples of the Rhizocrinus lofotensis of 

 Sars ; all of these being referable to the Apio- 

 crinidaj. In pointing out their structural pecu- 

 liarities and alluding to Bathjcrinus, he mentioned 

 that the stem barely enlarges at its junction with 

 the cup, the ring formed by the basals is very small, 

 and the first radials are free from the basals and 

 often free from one another, while the oral plates 



