SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



293 



says, " the presence of yeast germs in flowers is a 

 normal fact at all seasons, and they are capable of 

 making sherry must enter into alcoholic fermenta- 

 tion. It is very likely that the nectaries of flowers 

 furnish a medium suited to the multiplication of 

 the yeast. There is much more yeast on the 

 bodies of insects, especially those which frequent 

 nectariferous flowers." With regard to fruits, he 

 says that " whereas certain green fruits have yeast 

 germs normally, others are deprived of them, 

 and they are rare on ripe, intact fruits." I 

 may add that it is known that after fecunda- 

 tion, in proportion as the fruit is developed, 

 that most of the sugar which is accumulated 

 near the ovary passes into the tissues of the fruit 

 and the seeds, and at the same time it becomes 

 completely assimilable under the influence of a 

 soluble ferment ; even the liquid nectar is 

 reabsorbed. Whether this most useful invert- 

 ferment has been derived in some way from the 

 yeast germs conveyed to the flower by insects is a 

 point which I leave to the consideration of teleolo- 

 gical botanists of the Darwinian school. From the 

 fact that one is an organized ferment and the other 

 an unorganized one, not to mention that the former 

 is rarely found on ripe intact fruits, it seems to 

 follow that they have got nothing to do with each 

 other. 



In a recent number of Science-Gossip (ante 

 p. 1S3). there has been a sort of discussion as to 

 whether albanism in plants is due to an abnormal 

 or diseased state of the chlorophyll. I feel rather 

 diffident about putting in a word on the subject. 

 It does seem rather peculiar, however, that a white 

 flowered variety of Epilobium hirsutum (ante p. 

 183), supposed to prove disease, should neverthe- 

 less have been preserved constant, and have 

 survived for no less than 174 years. What 

 albanism in blue or red flowers has got to do with 

 chlorophyll, directly or even indirectly, is more 

 than any petty dabbler in plant chemistry can 

 precisely indicate. Albanism in yellow, orange, or 

 brick-red corollas stands on a different footing 

 altogether, inasmuch as some, but not all of the 

 cbromoplasts which colour these flowers seem to 

 be directly derived from cbloroplasts, it. chloro- 

 phyll granules Even here there is not much 

 certainty. " In the actual state (year 1888) of 

 saeoo; ircbet, "it is impossible to 



decide if lh<: pigment* of the leucites (chromoplasts) 

 ■ -ived directly from chlorophyll, or if they 

 ire formed at the expense of substances already 

 elaborated." 



Cache or Varie'.atkd Lbavi 



With regard to variegated leaves, the principal 



tact about them seem, to Ix: that the white 



■ of a lfi»( does not decompose carbonic 



What . .it olf, and, like a para- 



site, draws the whole of its sustenance from the 

 green portion of the organ. We learn also that 

 the white portion has five and a-half per cent more 

 water than the green portion, is richer in nitrogen, 

 phosphoric acid, potash, and ash constituents ; 

 but is poorer in fatty matter, and has but little 

 lime. Do these facts indicate the presence of 

 disease in that part of a leaf which suffers under 

 deprivation of chlorophyll ? With regard to 

 chlorophyll itself existing in a sickly state, I 

 possess one note by M. Mesnard. He states : " In 

 autumn the chlorophyll undergoes a kind of oily 

 transformation very comparable to the fatty 

 degeneration which occurs sometimes in animal 

 tissues." Fatty degeneration is undoubtedly a 

 morbid condition, and if this process actually 

 occurred in the white portions of a variegated 

 leaf we should be able to detect it by its 

 higher percentage of fat, whereas in point of 

 fact these portions are, as aforesaid, comparatively 

 poor in that substance. Moreover, considered 

 in a general way, it is not altogether clear 

 that partial albanism in leaves is necessarily 

 a symptom of an hereditary weakness in certain 

 species. It is quite possible and is generally 

 admitted that a tree may sometimes have too 

 many leaves, as the leaf area may be by no means 

 always proportional to the supply of food-materials 

 coming from the soil. Hence, if this be the case, 

 and especially if the leaf be evergreen, as in ivy, 

 holly, etc., there is nothing lost apparently by the 

 limitation by partial albanism of the total area of 

 the foliar organs which contain chlorophyll, and 

 thuswise minister to the important function of 

 assimilation. 



Patterdate, Westmoreland. 



Two American Naturalists. — Lovers of 

 natural science in America cannot be accused of 

 neglecting their dead. A " Commemoration 

 Meeting " was specially held by resolution of the 

 Academy of Natural Sciences at Philadelphia, on 

 December 31st last, to commemorate the services 

 to science of Dr. Harrison Allen and Dr. George H. 

 Horn. Papers were read by naturalists, eulogising 

 the work of their departed leaders. The report of 

 them occupies thirty-three pages of the " Pro- 

 ceedings of the Academy "just to hand. Harrison 

 Allen was born in Philadelphia in 1841 ; he died 

 on November 14th, 1897, whilst hard at work. He 

 was intended for the medical profession, studied 

 dentistry, and served for three years, from 1862, as 

 an army surgeon in the civil war. He then 

 became a successful and painstaking Professor of 

 Zoology i» 'he University of Pennsylvania, leaving 

 behind him a fine record and much work achieved. 

 He was also in the medical profession, and lived 

 to become one of the leading coleopterists of 

 the century It is a curious coincidence in these 



two men '1 fives, thai they were born in the same city 



within a year edmat'-d in the same school ; both 

 became medical men in I he army; both Professors 

 of the same University and of the same subjects ; 

 and both died suddenly in the same month 



