Dec. 24, 1 8 74 J 



NATURE 



155 



Pkok. Buckley, State Geologist of Texas, has published a 



syno|ji>is of the work done un<ler his auspices during the past 

 season, and remarks that fifty-four counties have been visited by 

 himself and assistants. The retails of his investigations show 

 that Texas has vast deposi's of iron and coal, of much greater 

 extent than had been anticipated. Both are of excellent quality, 

 and in some cases they occur near together, lie has also found 

 an abundance of salt, gypsum, and a wide range of copper 

 ores. Oiher valuable minerals are roofing slate, marble, soap- 

 stone, &c. 



The Engineer Department of the United States Army has 

 issued a "Catalogue of Plants collected in the years 1S71, 

 1872, and 1873, with Descriptions of New .Species." This is a 

 portion of a series of publications brought out under the same 

 auspices, being a report of geographical and geological explora- 

 tions and surveys west of the icoth meridian, under the charge 

 of First-lieutenant G. M. Wheeler. 



Wb are pleased to learn from the "Tenth Report of the 

 Board for the Protection of the Aborigines in the Colony of 

 Victoria," that the condition of the aborigines from the founda- 

 tion of the colony was never so prosperous as at the present time. 

 Very successful experiments at hop-growing have been made in 

 some of the districts allotted to the native?, who take kindly to 

 the light and comparatively well-paid work. The cultivation of 

 hops will be extended to other districts. Considerable success 

 has also been attained in the education of the children. 



Dk. John Dowso.v has sent us two pamphlets of which he is 

 the author : " Thoughts, Philosophical and Medical, selected 

 from the Works of Francis Bacon," and " A Sketch of the Life 

 and Works of Erasmus Darwin, M.D., F.K.S." II. K. Lewis, 

 Gower .Street, is the publisher. 



The Quarterly youriial of the Meteorological .Society, just 

 issued, contains a number of papers read during the last session 

 of the Society, abstracts of most of which have appeared in 

 these pages. 



The "Proceedings of the Belfast Xatural History and Philo- 

 sophical Society " for 1872-3-4 have been published. Among 

 the papers of scientific interest are the President's (Mr. J. J. 

 Murphy's) addresses, " On Cosmological .Science," and " On 

 the present state of the Darwinian Controversy ; " Prof. 

 Everett " On Mirage," published in Natuke, vol. xi. p. 49 ; 

 "On some New Methods of Chemical Analysis," by Prof. 

 Hodges ; " On the Solar Spots," by Mr. Murphy ; " On 

 Kainbow, Halos, and Corona;," by Prof. Purser; "On Under- 

 ground Temperature," by Prof. Everett ; "On the Origin and 

 Metamorphoses of Insects," by Mr. Murphy ; " On the Compo- 

 sition of an Inflammable Gas issuing from below the Silt-bed in 

 Belfast," by Dr. Andrews, F.K.S. 



We have received two reprints from the " Proceedings " of the 

 Liverpool Geological Society, 1873-74: "The Melamorphic 

 Kocks of the Malvern Kange and the Strata derived from them," 

 by Dr. C. Ricketts, F.G.S. ; and "Tidal Action as a Geological 

 Cause," by Mr. T. Mellard Reade, C.E., F.G.S. 



It is gratifying to see, from the Seventh Annual Report of 

 the Eastbourne Natural History .Society, that the .Society is, on 

 the whole, in a flourishing condition. It Is doing very satiifac- 

 tory work in the collection and arrangement of the fauna and 

 flora of its district. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Peregrine Falcon (Fako feregrinus), Euro- 

 pean, presented by Mr. A. F. Ross ; a Campbell's Monkey 

 (Cercopilhtcus campbclli) from West Africa, purchased ; and 

 eight Canadian Beavers (Castor canadensis) from North America, 

 deposited. 



THE ROYAL SOCIETY MEDALS 

 \ Y^E have already announced the names of those to whom the 

 ' ' Royal .Society .Medals have t^en awarded ; the following 

 is the official account of the presentation by the Vice-l'resideni 

 and Treasurer, Mr. .Spottiswoode, at the Anniversary Meeting 

 on the 30th ult : — 



The Copley Medal has been awarded to Prof. I^ouLs Pasteur, 

 one of our foreign members, " for his researches on Fermenta- 

 tion and on Pebrine." 



Prof. Pasteur's researches on fermentation consist essentially 

 of two parts : the first part, in which he enters exhaustively 

 into the examination of the products formed in this process ; and 

 the second, in which he lakes up the question of the cau.se of 

 ferjnentation. 



Previous observers had noticed the production, in solutions of 

 suyar which had been fermented, of substances other than the 

 tv.cj commonly recognised, alcohol and carbonic acid ; but it 

 remained for Pasteur to show which were essential and which 

 Mxrc occasional products. In the series of able papers con- 

 tril^uted to the Comptes A'enUus and to the Annates de tliimie et 

 de J'hysiijue, he proved conclusively that succmic acid and glyce- 

 rine were always found in fermented solutions of sugar, while 

 latiic acid and acetic acid, although occasionally present, were 

 tiot always so. He also showed tuat, in adoition to these sub- 

 stances, a part of the sugar was converted into cellulose and /at. 



'i he study of the products formed during fermentation opened 

 lie way to the second part of the research, viz., the cause of 

 fermentation, 



1 1 had been found that certain solutions, when exposed to the 

 air, soon became full of livin;^ organisms; and Pasteur's experi- 

 ments led him to support the view that these organisms origi- 

 nated from the presence of germs floating in the air. He found 

 that no living organisms were developed if care were taken to 

 de-lroy completely all those which might be present in the 

 solution, and if the solutions were then carefully scaled up free 

 from air. Nor was it necessary to exclude the air, provided that 

 pure air, Un<: (com germ.s, were admitied. By parsing ihe air 

 through red-hot tubes or through gun-cotton l>elore reaching the 

 .solutions, he found that the flevelopment of organisms, in such 

 Ijoilcd solutions, did not take place. An exception to this was 

 noticed in the case of milk, which required to be healed to a 

 Ijigher temperature than the boiling-point of water at atmo- 

 spheric pressure. Pasteur showed tliat this was connected with 

 the alkaline reaction of milk, for in all casc-s in which the de- 

 velopment of life was prevented by heating to the boiling-point 

 of v.ater, the solutions had a faintly acid reaction — but that when 

 thi^ was neutralised by carbonate of lime, the solutions then 

 behaved like milk. 



I'rof. Pasteur also examined the gun-cotton through which the 

 air had been passed ; and he found, among other things, certain 

 eellv to which he attributed the power of causing the growth of 

 onanisms in solutions. By sowing some of these cells in solu- 

 li lis which previously had remained clear, and finding that such 

 solu-.ions speedily became turbid from the growth of living 

 oryanisms, it was proved that the air which had passed through 

 the tun-cotton had lost its property of causing the development 

 of li e in solutions, because the germs which the air contained 

 Imd been stopped by the gun-cotton. 



'Ihe result of the second part of the research may be thus 

 summed up : — 



1. No organisms are developed in solutions if care be taken 

 to jirevent the possibility of the presence of germs. 



2. This negative result does not depend uix)n the exclusion of 

 oy.yyen. 



3. 'ITie matter separated from ordinary air is competent to 

 develop organisms in .solutions which previously had rcmainetl 

 unelianged. 



-Not less important were the results of Pasteur's experiments 

 re-;^ecting the chemical functions of the ferment. 



li had been held that the entire ferment was in a state of 

 putrefactive decomposition, and induced a similar decomposition 

 ill llie sugar with which it was in cr^ntact. 



In corroboration of this view, it was stated that ammonia (a 

 product of the decomposition of albuminous sul)stances such as 

 llio-e present in the ferment) is always found in liquids which 

 ;ir; undereoing fermentation. 



I'asteur proved that the ammonia in fermenting liquids dimi- 



j niihes in quantity in proportion as the process advancc-s, and 



that the yeast-celLs increase and grow while forming complex 



I albuminous substances at the expense of the ammonia and other 



