Fune 32, 1870} 
NATURE 
179 
series.” The author suggested that the Forest-bed itself is 
represented inland by the stony bed which lies immediately upon 
the chalk and between it and the Fluvio-marine and Marine 
Crags, his theory being that the surface of the chalk, after sup- 
porting a forest-bed fauna, was gradually covered up by suc- 
cessive crag deposits. 
3. “On Proterosaurus spener7, yon Meyer, and a new species, 
Proterosaurus huxleyi, {yom the Marl-slate of Midderidge, Dur- 
ham.” By Albany Hancock, F.L.S., and Richard Howse. 
Communicated by Prof. Huxley, F.R.S., F.G.S. 
In this paper the authors described a specimen which they 
referred to Lreterosaurus sfeneri, von Meyer; and one of a 
smaller form, which they regarded as new, and described as 
Proterosaurus huxleyi. Both were from the same part of the 
marl-slate of Midderidge, Durham. The two species agree in 
having the limbs and tajl long and the neck long, and com- 
posed ofseven vertebrae, in the number of dorsal vertebrae, in the 
number and character of the bones ofthe hand, and in some other 
particulars, sufficient, with these, in the opinion of the authors, 
to justify the reference ofboth to the genus Poferosaurus. In 
P. huxleyi the ribs are flattened instead of rounded at the proxi- 
mal extremity, and less widened and grooved at the distal 
extremity than in P. sfeneri; the hind limb is considerably 
longer in proportion to the fore limb: and the distal extremity 
of the humerus is only twice as wide as the constricted part, 
instead of three times, as in the old species. 
Chemical Society, June 16.—Prof. Williamson, F.R.S., 
president, in the chair. L. A. Lucas and A. W. Bickerton 
were elected Fellows. Mr. James Bell reada paper on ‘* Fermen- 
tation.” The author has instituted a series of experiments to 
determine : 1. The forms of natural ferment which various al- 
buminous bodies will give rise to in solutions of cane sugar, and 
of cane sugar and glucose. 2. The relative fermentative powers 
of various ferments, especially of those occurring in malt extract 
and in thegrape juice. 3. The influence of change of soil upon 
the fermentative organisms. From among the manifold results 
obtained in these experiments, the following may be mentioned : 
(a) Addition of glucose to fermenting liquids, especially to the 
juice of grape, is advantageous, inasmuch as it assists to exhaust 
the juice of its fermentative element, and thus imparts to the 
wine a greater keeping power. (4) Each ferment has its favourite 
soil. The President, in proposing a vote of thanks to the author, 
took occasion to give a brief 7ész7e of the present state of know- 
ledge of the yeast plant. Though called a ‘‘ plant,” the yeast 
organism appears in all its functions rather animal than vegetable ; 
the products of its secretion are less complicated than those it 
takes in ; it does not, like plants, require light for its vital process, 
neither does it absorb heat, but on the contrary gives it off. 
Alluding, then, to Liebig’s recent memoir on fermentation, Prof. 
Williamson observed that that distinguished chemist had entirely 
dropped his former notions regarding the process of fermenta- 
tion.—Dr. Heisch communicated a paper ‘‘ On organic matter 
in water.” The author was some time ago called on to assist a 
large manufacturer of lemonade, who suddenly found it impossible 
to make lemonade that would keep. After a day or two it 
became turbid, and its odour anything but agreeable. On in- 
vestigating the liquid under the microscope it was found full of 
small spherical cells with, in most cases, a very bright nucleus. 
After examining all the materials employed, the fault was de- 
tected to be with the water. On putting a few grains of pure 
crystalline sugar into some of the water, it became turbid in a 
few hours, and contained the cells above mentioned. On inquiry 
it turned out that the well from which the water used in the pre- 
paration of the lemonade was obtained, had been slightly con- 
taminated with sewage. ‘This led the experimenter to mix a 
minute quantity of sewage with a sugar solution ; the cells very 
soon made theirappearance. Filtration through the finest Swedish 
paper does not remoye the germs. Boiling for half an hour in no 
~ way destroys their vitality. Filtration through a good bed of 
animal charcoal seems to be the only effectual mode of removing 
them, but it is necessary to air the charcoal from time to time, 
else it loses its purifying property.—Mr. Perkins read a letter 
from Prof. Strecker, wherein the latter claims the priority of 
having published the true formula of alizarin as early as 1866, a 
fact which was not mentioned by Mr. Perkin in his recent lec- 
ture on alizarin. Mr. Perkin said that this omission was due to 
an oversight on his part, certainly not to any intention to deprive 
Professor Strecker of his merits.—Mr. Herman read a paper 
*©On the methods for the determination of carbon in steel.” 
Seyeral samples of steel were analysed according to different 
methods, with the view of ascertaining which of the usual pro- 
cesses for determining the carbon in iron is the most advan- 
tageous. A large number of careful experiments led to the con- 
clusion that the direct buming of the iron filings in a stream of 
oxygen (Wohler’s process) is the most expeditious and accurate 
method. In the following table the means of the results ob- 
tained by the different methods are given, the quantities of ferric 
oxide obtained by combustion in oxygen are almost identical with 
those required by theory. 
fee ies yy ante | iv. ve | VE Vit.) Var 
By Eggertz’s method} 1°319 | *789 | “FOL | 587 | *486 | “349 | °283 
By combustion in\}_. 6<6| « cee |) ae a D 
OXVEEN \cccee | oo 7602 | °635 | 3594 | 273 | BANS 
By Elliott’s method| 1248 | "8065 | "724 | 6701 | “5025 | “4772 | "349 | "9427 
PARIS : 
Academy of Sciences, June 13.—The following mathe- 
matical papers were read :—-Demonstration of Jacobi’s method 
for the formation of the period of a primitive root, by M. V. A. 
Le Besque ; on the construction of the axis of curvature of 
the developable surface, enveloping a plane of which the dis- 
placement is subjected to certain conditions, by M. A. Mann- 
heim, communicated by M. Chasles ; and ona certain family of 
curves and surfaces, by MM. I’. Klein and S. Lie, also presented 
by M. Chasles.—MM. Jamin and Amaury presented a note on 
the specific heat of mixtures of alcohol and water, in which they 
show by the examination of numerous mixtures that the specific 
heat of such fluids is not only higher than the mean specific heat 
of their constituents, but that in certain proportions it even 
exceeds that of water.—M. Bussy remarked that M. Buignet and 
himself had previously ascertained that a mixture of equivalent 
parts of alcohol and water had a specific heat greater than the 
mean of its elements. —MM. C. Martins and G. Chancel presented 
a second note on the physical phenomena which accompany the 
rupture of hollow projectiles of various calibres by the conge- 
lation of water, in reply to observations made by General Morin 
and MM. Dumas and Elie de Beaumont on their former commu- 
nication.—-A note by M. J. Violle, on the mechanical equivalent 
of heat, was presented by M. H. Sainte-Claire Deville.—M. A. 
Houzeau communicated some experiments on the electrolisation 
of the air or of oxygen asa means of producing ozone. He stated 
that the production of ozoneis greater at the negative than at 
the positive pole, that it increases with the electrical intensity 
but only to a certain extent with the duration of the experiment, 
that its formation is not prevented by the envelopment of the 
poles in glass tubes, and increases considerably with diminution 
of temperature, and that the ozone produced in air contains small 
quantities of nitrous compounds, which do not occur in that 
furnished by pure oxygen.—M. de Saint-Venant presented a note 
by M. J. Boussinesq on the theory of the flow of a liquid 
through an orifice in a thin wall.—The ephemeris of the newly- 
observed comet was communicated by M. Le Verrier from a 
letter of M. Winnecke’s.—An extract from a letter from M. 
Bourgogne, giving an account of a storm which burst on the 29th 
of May in the neighbourhood of Alais, was communicated by 
M. Dumas. The hailstones were as large as small walnuts, and 
the damage done to the vegetation was immense.—A note on 
the spirting (vochage) of the carburets of iron, and on the sparks 
produced by these metals, with remarks on some new proper- 
ties of iron, was read by M. H. Caron.—Some researches on 
platinum, by M. P. Schiitzenberger, were presented by M. H. 
Sainte-Claire Deville. This paper related to two compounds 
previously described by the author, namely, chloro-platinite of 
carbonyle, and chloro-platinite of dicarbonyle, C O Pt Cl? and 
C202 Pt Cl®, which he stated may be regarded as the chlorides 
of two diatomic compound radicals, platoso-carbonyle (C O, Pt) 
and platoso-dicarbonyle ee > Pt). He described the be- 
haviour of these compounds when treated with ammonia and 
ethylene, and also the action of protochloride of phosphorus 
upon subchloride of platinum, and of perchloride of phosphorus 
upon platinum.—A long and elaborate paper on _tribrom- 
hydrine, by M. L. Henry, was read, and a note by M. Gobley, 
on the action of ammonia upon lecithine, was presented by 
M. A. Wurtz. He has found that lecithine in presence of 
ammonia gives origin to margaramide, to phosphoglyceric acid, 
and to choline. —M. C. Robin presented a note by MM. Lebert 
and Cohn, upon a new species of Perenospora, parasitic on cacti. 
The species, which the authors named P. cactorum, attacked 
seyeral specimens of AZefocactus and €vreus giganteus, in General 
