1897 | CURRENT LITERATURE 477 
This substance appears to have characters sufficiently different from the 
enzyms to entitle it to be placed in a distinct class of compounds. It seems 
probable, although not yet proven, that the yeast cell excretes the zymase 
into the surrounding liquid, and that the fermentation takes place outside of, 
and not within the living cell. 
From the results so far obtained it appears safe to conclude that alcoholic 
fermentation is brought about by a non-living substance allied to the enzyms, 
» and that the process is entirely distinct from both intramolecular and normal 
breathing. Further research along this line will undoubtedly bring to light 
other important discoveries.—J. C. 
CapTaIn HENRY D’ALBERTIS in 1893 equipped the “Corsaro,” and on 
June 3 sailed from Genoa, following as closely as possible the course of 
Columbus in his voyage of discovery, and on July 20 reached the island of 
Guanahani,’ called also San Salvador or Watling. The algz collected were 
given to Professor Anthony Piccone for study, whose paper® is a useful con- 
tribution to phycogeography. Captain d’Albertis collected Dasycladus occiden- 
talis Harv. and Acetabularia crenulata Lamour, in the interior salt lake of 
~Guanahani. On July 21 he collected in the Atlantic, fifty miles off the mouth 
of the Delaware river, floating specimens of the following species: 
bacctferum (Turn .) Ag., S. vulgare Ag., S. filipendula Ag., Fucus vesiculosus 
L., ee nodosum Ae ) Le Pel, Jania puters (L.) Lamour (on the frond 
of S. filipendula). collected in the Gulf Stream 
150 miles S. E. of thé Guia Banks of Nie fonndiount and at 42° 6" N. lat. 
and 46° 30’ W. long. Between New York and the Azores, d’Albertis collected 
Sargassum Hystrix J. Ag., S. bacciferum (Turn.) Ag., S. cymosum Ag., Fucus 
vesiculosus L., and Ascophyllum nodosum (L.) Le Jol—De Tont. 
Dr. G. Kraus differs from the usually accepted view that calcium oxalate 
is a waste product of plant metabolism, and contends that it es aca 
. ‘ i ; 
Wincti ‘ eteck® pie Ninety, eat, ae Tc rs SC 5 se, 1 
* ACRE DY Guar tatlv a : cal ; 
CP a Sood 
= 3 
