EDITORIAL. 97 



cautions aluminum could be safely used, but that it presented few, if 

 any, advantages over copper or other metals in common use. 



There were many papers on various chemical questions connected 

 with the manufacture of sugar from cane and beets, several giving the 

 latest European processes for the manufacture of starch, and a number 

 on matters related to wine making. The question of fermentation and 

 the germicidal methods of controlling it by means of iluorids was dis- 

 cussed by J. Eftront; and a communication was presented by 0. J. 

 Murphy, of this country, describing a new process of fermenting maize 

 and showing the way to a more extended use of this product in Euro- 

 pean distilleries. A subject of interest to the Southern wine-growing 

 States and California was a paper on vinification in warm climates. 



These papers are to be published in full by the congress at an early 

 date, and doubtless many of them will then be noticed in considerable 

 detail. 



An enjoyable and very profitable feature of the congress was the 

 excursions. About half the time was devoted to these, and they 

 served to prevent the tediousness of continued sessions of papers and 

 discussions. One afternoon was spent in a visit to the celebrated agri- 

 cultural school and experiment station at Grignon. The school and 

 the farm connected with it were inspected, and the experimental plats 

 of the station were explained by Deherain, and afterwards in his labo- 

 ratory he gave a brief explanation of the charts presenting the results 

 of the experiments for many years. 



Another afternoon was emi^loyed in inspecting tlie irrigating works 

 lately constructed at Gennevilliers to suijplement those at Asnieres in 

 disposing of the sewage of Paris. For more than a quarter of a cen- 

 tury the city of Paris has been using its sewage for irrigation. The 

 fact that in the light of this long experiment it has recently more than 

 doubled the area under irrigation shows that the process is considered 

 a practical success. The sewage of Paris consists mostly of the water 

 used for washing the streets. As water-closets are to a large extent 

 connected with vaults, the sewage is not so highly polluted nor so rich 

 in fertilizing materials as might be supposed. The fields irrigated con- 

 tain 709 hectares (about 1,970 acres). The city of Paris expended 

 200,000,000 francs (about $40,000,000) in acquiring the land and con- 

 structing the aqueduct, pumping machinery, and irrigating canals. 

 The crops grown are vegetables and fruits — largely small fruits. The 

 methods of irrigation are exactly those practiced in the arid regions of 

 the United States. The gardens, though only 2 years old, presented a 

 scene of almost tropical exuberance. Many dwarf fruit trees Avere 

 already in bearing. Fortunately, the soil is of a sandy nature, permit- 

 ting souiewhat rapid filtration. At the end of the field next to the 

 river the sewage which has passed through the soil reappears as a large 

 stream of pure water, colorless and bright. The number of nn'cro- 

 organisms, which is many millions in the sewage,'is diminished to 2,500 

 per cubic centimeter of the seei>age water. 



