2 08 



NA TURE 



[December 2q, 1892 



Paul Parey, of Berlin, under the title of " Landwirtschaft in 

 England." 



The current number of Wundl's Philosophische Studien icon- 

 tains two experimental articles — both dealing with problems of 

 psychological optics. The first (A. Kirschmann, "Beitraege 

 zur Kenntniss der Farbenblindheit ") gives an account of a 

 number-of interesting cases of colour-blindness, together with 

 criticisms of existing theories. A unique case is that of an 

 inherited, unilateral (left) blindness to the qualities violet, green 

 and yellow. In the second (E. B. Titchener, " Ueber 

 binoculare Wirkungen monocularer Reize ") an attempt is made 

 to show that stimulation of one retina is followed by an excita- 

 tion-process in the other. The psychophysical results are 

 supported by recent physiological discovery. 



The following are the arrangements at the Royal Institution 

 for the Friday evening meetings before Easter, 1893 : — Friday, 

 January 20, Prof. Dewar, F.R. S., liquid atmospheric 

 air; Friday, January 27, Francis Galton, F. R.S., the just- 

 perceptible difference ; Friday, February 3, Alexander Siemens 

 theory and practice in electrical science (with experimental 

 illustrations) ; Friday, February 10, Prof. Charles Stewart, 

 some associated organisms; Friday, February 17, Prof. A. H. 

 Church, F. R.S., luracin, a remarkable animal pigment con- 

 taining copper ; Friday, February 24, Edward Hopkinson, 

 electrical railways ; Friday, March 3, George Simonds, sculpture 

 considered apart from archaeology ; Friday, March 10, Sir 

 Herbert Maxwell, early myth and late romance ; and Friday, 

 March 17, William James Russell, F. R.S., ancient Egyptian 

 pigments. On Friday, March 24, a discourse will be delivered 

 by Lord Rayleigh. On March 31 and April 7 (the Fridays in 

 Passion and Easter Weeks) there will be no evening meetings. 



The following are the arrangements for lectures at the Royal 

 Victoria Hail in January: — ^January 3, Mr. Charles E. Reade 

 on a trip through India, with anecdotes of the mutiny ; 

 January 10, Mr. A. Hilliard Atteridge on some old Belgian 

 towns; January 17, Prof. Carlton Lambert on the romance of 

 the stars; January 24, Dr. Dallinger on spiders, their work 

 and their wisdom. 



The fermentative changes which the leaves of the tobacco 



plant are made to undergo before they are worked up and 



finally handed over to the public, are of the greatest importance 



in determining the quality of any particular tobacco. It was 



formerly supposed that the alteration in its condition thus 



brought about was due to purely chemical changes induced by 



the process of "sweating" which the leaf undergoes, but some 



interesting experiments made recently go to show that these 



important results are efTected by special micro-organisms. In 



a paper read before the German Botanical Society, Suchsland 



gives an account of some investigations which he has been con. 



ducting on the bacteria found in different kinds of tobacco. 



He has examined fermented tobacco from all parts of the world, 



and found large numbers of micro-organisms, although but few 



varieties, mostly only two or three different species in any 



particular brand and but rarely micrococcus forms. But what 



is of especial interest is the discovery that pure cultures of 



bacteria obtained from one kind of tobacco and inoculated on 



to another kind, generated in the latter a taste and aroma 



recalling the taste and aroma of the original tobacco from 



which the pure cultures had been in the first instance procured. 



Thus it may be possible in the future to raise the quality of 



German tobacco, not, as heretofore, so much by careful 



culture and judicious selection of varieties, which has so far 



proved unsuccessful, but by inoculating pure cultures of bacteria 



found in some of the fine foreign tobaccos on to our own raw 



material, whereby similar fermentative changes may be induced 



NO. 1209, VOL. 47] 



and the quality correspondingly improved. The further results 

 promised by Suchsland will be looked for with much interest. 

 In connection with the above experiments on the " transplanta- 

 tion," so to speak, of micro-organisms, it is interesting to note 

 some results obtained lately by Nathan {Die Bedeutung der 

 Hefenreinzuiht fiir die Obsiweinbereitung). The amount of 

 alcohol present in such wines as cider, currant wine, etc., is 

 generally from 3 to 4 percent. This small proportion is possibly 

 in part due to the necessarily large dilution of the fruit with 

 water, which considerably reduces the nitrogenous constituents 

 of the "must," and also to the fact that the yeast, according 

 to Hansen mostly present on sweet fruits is the Saccharomyces 

 apiculatus, which only possesses a feeble fermentative power. 

 Experiments were made to see whether, by increasing the 

 nitrogenous constituents of the "must," and introducing a pure 

 cultivation of a vigorous wine-yeast, the yield of alcohol would 

 be greater. It was found that by adding a small amount of 

 nitrogenous material, such as 0"15 gram, ammonium chloride, 

 and 5 cubic centimetres of wine-yeast per litre to the " apple - 

 must " (which was the fruit selected) 2 per cent, more alcohol 

 was obtained, and not only was this the case, but this cider 

 possessed a finer and more vinous taste than that untreated, or 

 which had only received an additional supply of ammonium 

 chloride without the wine-yeast. Kosutany in a paper published 

 i-n the Latidw. Versuchsstationen, 1892, has recorded the 

 results of his investigations on the behaviour of certain species 

 of wine-yeast. He states that not only is the percentage of 

 alcohol yielded very different with particular yeasts, but that 

 also the taste, smell, and bouquet of the wine inoculated with 

 special cultures were distinctly different according to the variety 

 of yeast employed. It is hoped that, as in the case of tobacco 

 so with wine, it may be possible to raise the quality by the 

 judicious transplanting of bacteria obtained from finer brands. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during 



the past week include a Squirrel {Sciurui ) from 



China, presented by Mr. Julius Neumann ; a Crowned Hawk 

 Eagle {Spizaetus coronatus) from South Africa, presented by 

 Mr. T. H. Mills ; a Macaque Monkey (Macacus cynomolgus ? ) 

 from India, deposited ; three Sulphury Tyrants {Pitangus 

 sulphuratus) from South America, six common Widgeons 

 {Mareca penelope, 3 tJ , 3 9 ), four common Pintails {Dafila acuta, 

 26 , 2 ? ), two Pintailed Sand Grouse (Pierocles akhata, <J ? ) 

 European, purchased. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 

 Jupiter's Fifth Satellite.— Mr. A. A. Common, in a 

 letter to the Times f )r December 28, writes with respect to the 

 fifth satellite of Jupiter : — 



"This extremely difficult telescopic object discovered by Prof. 

 Barnard last September at the Lick Observatory has been looked 

 for with the 5ft. reflector on several occasions. On October 18 

 and on Deceniber 13 it was pretty certainly seen, by me on the 

 first occasion, and by Mr. Albert Taylor on the second. The 

 last two evenings (Sunday and Monday) have been very fine, 

 and on each, between five and six o'clock, the satellite has 

 been seen with certainty by Mr. Taylor and in glimpses by 

 me. 



" The brightness seems less than that assigned to it by Prof. 

 Barnard, but this may be due to the very much better sky they 

 enjoy at Mount Hamilton ; the glare from Jupiter would be with 

 them very much less, so that ihcy would have the planet on a 

 much darker background, and it would appear brighter than it 

 does here. 



"I have not heard of any other observations having been made 

 out of America." 



Comet Brooks (November 20, 1892). — Edinburgh. Circu- 

 lar, No. 36, gives the ephemeris of this comet, from which the 

 following extract is made. This comet, according to Ber- 



