SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



the Academy was conferred in 1881. In 1887, he 

 was appointed perpetual secretary of the Academy 

 of Sciences, but failing health compelled his retire- 

 ment two years later. 



Pasteur's reputation will be handed down to 

 posterity in association with his discoveries in the 

 connection of bacteria with fermentation, and 

 animal diseases. His successful investigation and 

 alleviation of the silk-worm diseases saved a 

 national industry from extinction. Latterly his 

 whole energies were devoted to the practical 

 application of the science of bacteriology, and to the 

 protection of animal life from disease. His success 

 is demonstrated by the work of the Pasteur Institute 

 of Paris, and the revolution in the treatment by the 

 medical profession of zymotic diseases. Anthrax, 

 fowl-cholera, swine-erysipelas, and hydrophobia are 

 now curable, whilst the dreaded cholera and diptheria 

 have lost their terrors to the modern physician. 



Science, like other branches of human knowledge, 

 does not proceed with even speed but by unexpected 

 bounds at irregular intervals. These intervals are 



occupied by the elaboration of the former dis- 

 coveries. Such " bounds " are long between, but 

 they form the basis of definite thought and research. 

 Among them may be mentioned Galileo's discovery 

 of the Solar System, Newton's Theory of Gravita- 

 tion, Dalton's Atomic Theory, and Darwin's of the 

 Evolution of Species. To these will be added 

 Pasteur's discoveries of the place of bacteria in the 

 economy of nature, and their connection with 

 fermentation and disease. 



As a man, Louis Pasteur was earnest and 

 taciturn, seldom seen to laugh in public, and his 

 absent-mindedness became a proverb ; but as an 

 original thinker in scientific research he had few 

 equals. He had not been strong for some time past. 

 Twenty-seven years ago he had a paralytic stroke, 

 from which he never really recovered ; heart and 

 kidney troubles following. He died at his country 

 house near the Parisian suburb of St. Cloud, on 

 September 28th last. His public funeral was alike 

 an honour to the French nation and to the scientific 

 world at large. J. T. C. 



SUNDEW 

 By Miss E 



/^\N a long bank of bright green sphagnum moss, 

 ^^^ on the edge of a pool near Oxshott, I found 

 the sundew growing in profusion. The plants 

 imparted quite a warm reddish hue to the bank, 

 especially as the orbicular leaves of the marsh 

 pennywort (Hydrocotyle vulgaris) were in close juxta- 

 position. The plants were small, most of them 

 having four or five leaves. Two varieties, 

 D. rotundifolia and D. intermedia, were found. The 

 hairs were shining in the sun and under the lens 

 looked like sparkling rubies against the green 

 background of the leaf. I brought home several 

 plants, putting them in a saucer with plenty of 

 water, but I suppose the smoky air of a London 

 flat did not agree with them, for they drooped 

 rapidly and seemed to have lost their power of 

 feeding. Some few weeks later I came across the 

 plant in another part of Surrey. For an hour or so 

 I watched the plant to study its modus operandi in 

 catching insects. There were plenty of ants about 

 running over the path. A crumb of meat attracted 

 their attention, but wherever I put it out of their 

 reach, moving it to different sides of the plant, 

 they always went round the plant and never over it. 

 When an ant was tipped on to the nearest leaf, 

 the lower part of its body, being heavier, was 

 pressed down upon the leaf. The hairs began to 

 bend over, the creature struggled and became more 

 involved. I took it away, and found that the 

 lower part of its body was covered with a coat of 

 slime. After a short time for recovery, it crawled 

 away and rejoined its comrades, carefully avoiding 



AND ANTS. 

 . J. Temple. 



another plant of sundew that stood in its path 

 It seems to me that insects must know 

 something of the nature of the plant, for I only 

 saw one unwary little spider fall upon the leaf ; 

 there were plenty of small beetles and flies 

 near. The strength of the viscid filaments that 

 surrounded the object too astonished me, for it 

 required quite a stout piece of branch to rescue the 

 spider. I brought home some more plants, and 

 remembering my former experience put them into a 

 saucer with plenty of water under a bell-jar. The 

 dry atmosphere of the room, with particles of dust 

 and dirt, are poison to the plants, but under glass in 

 the sun they flourish. Mine are in beautiful 

 condition now ; I left them for about ten days 

 without food ; then I put some tiny pieces of raw 

 beef into the centre of some of the leaves, about 

 one help of meat to each plant. The hairs 

 contracted and surrounded them. At the end of 

 the day, the meat had lost all its redness, it was 

 just a glutinous looking mass of dirty white tissue in 

 the middle of the leaves. After a short time, the 

 hairs stiffened and stood up erect and bedewed. 

 The young leaves of the sundew appear very 

 pretty before they are unfolded. They look 

 uncommonly like the hooked end of a golf club, 

 and are of a beautiful pale green. Some of the 

 sundew plants that I found were hidden among 

 heather roots. These had not got half the red 

 colour of the plants exposed to the sun, although 

 their tentacles were healthy and full of dew. 

 50, Clovelly Mansions, London; Sept., 1895. 



