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explanation of the Alcoholic and Lactic fermentations of 
Sugar, the cell through the wall of which the action takes 
place, being different in character, in each case. The views 
of A. Meyers on fermentation, published during the past 
year in Poggendorff’s Annalen, cannot be considered as ex- 
plaining the matter, as he falls back upon the principle of the 
existence of a “ vital force,” and pronounces fermentation to be 
the consequence of unexplained formation of Cellulose. But 
he does not explain why Sugar can undergo several quite 
distinct kinds of fermentation ; neither does he show how the 
fact that under peculiar conditions the yeast may diminish in 
weight, while the fermentation is still going on, is to be made 
to accord with his views. 
Among all the theories of fermentation put forward, that 
of Liebig appears, as yet, to be the simplest and most natural ; 
although his otherwise ingenious hypothesis leaves several 
points unexplained, as, for instance, how it is that Sugar can 
undergo more than one kind of fermentation. Mitcherlich’s 
contact theory and Pasteur’s views, pronouncing fermentation 
to be the consequence of the vitality of the yeast plant, can- 
not be considered as fully explaining the process. 
Chemosmosis may be recognized as taking an active part 
in many other changes than those mentioned, as, for example, 
the action of the Periosteum in animals, and the reduction of 
Carbonic acid and water in vegetable tissues, under the in- 
fluence of the sun’s rays. Further investigation in this di-. 
rection may shed more light on many at present obscure 
phenomena concerned in physiological chemistry. 
Dr. H. ENDEMANN read a paper On Meat and the Methods of 
Preserving it, in which he described the extract of meat made 
according to Liebig’s process, and stated that its value is 
overestimated, as experiments have shown that the ashes of 
the extract.are as nutritious as the extract itself. No organic 
substance has been found that will produce the effects of 
extract. He then described the process of salting meat and 
showed that the salts used, as well as any water employed 
subsequently to freshen the meat, remove a large part of the 
