Notes and Memoranda. 145 



allowance for the loss or non-discovery of so many pages in the great 

 Stone Book, the idea of a series of alternate creations and destruc- 

 tions must give place, to make way for a continuous picture of de- 

 scent with modifications, and a replacement of species by causes 

 analogous to those which affect the fauna of our own times. 



NOTES AND MEMORANDA. 



New Facts in Fermentation. — M. A. B^champ states in Comptes Rendus 

 that if the must of gi'apes of different kinds is filtered, the ordinary alcoholic fer- 

 ment (yeast) only appears in it ; but, if not filtered, thread-shaped ferments make 

 their appearance also, and occur largely with free access of air. The fermentation 

 of filtered grape juice effected by yeast only, yields a wine that differs con- 

 siderably from that of unfiltered grape juice fermented in the ordinary way. 

 He cannot state exactly what part is performed by the filiform (vibrio-like?) 

 ferments, but does not find that they materially augment the quantity of 

 acetic acid in the wine. 



Shooting-Stars in the Two Hemispheres. — M. Poey, in a paper com- 

 municated to the French Academy on the Shooting-Star3 he had observed at 

 Havannah, states that the number of meteors seen in the Northern Hemisphere 

 is nearly double that of those seen in the Southern; and that, while in the 

 Northern the maximum number is seen between one and two o'clock, in the 

 Southern the greater part are seen between two and three. 



Spontaneous Generation Committee. — At the sitting of the French 

 Academy on January 4th, M. Pasteur stated that Messrs. Pouchefc and Joly 

 denied his assertion, " that it was always possible to take from any place a notice- 

 able, but limited quantity of air, which had not undergone any modification, 

 chemical or mechanical, and which was, nevertheless, unfit to cause any alteration 

 in an eminently putrescible liquid." MM. Joly and Musset declared that if, 

 under such circumstances a single vessel remained unaltered, they would acknow- 

 ledge their defeat. M. Pouchet said, " I affirm that, from whatever part of the 

 globe I take a cubic decimetre of air, when I place it in contact with a fermentable 

 liquor enclosed in a hermetically sealed vessel, it is always filled with living 

 organisms." All the parties were willing to repeat their experiments before a Com- 

 mission named by the Academy, and accordingly Messrs. Flourens, Dumas, 

 Brongniart, Milne Edwards, and Balard were nominated for the purpose. 



Aniline Yellow and Aniline Blue. — Professor Hoffman has communi- 

 cated to the Royal Society his observations on a yellow substance obtained by Mr. 

 Nicholson from a resinous substance left in the preparation of rosaniline. Pro- 

 fessor Hoffman calls this material chrysaniline, and states that it is a finely-divided 

 yellow powder, like fresh precipitated chromato of lead, uncrystallinc, scarcely 

 soluble in water, easily so in alcohol and ether. It constitutes an organic base, re- 

 presented by the formula G, H ]7 N 3 . 



To form Aniline blue, rosaniline salts are heated at a high temperature with ex- 

 cess of aniline, or rosaniline is so heated with salts of aniline. The transition was 

 first observed by MM. Gerard and DeLaire, and has becomo the foundation of a 

 new branch of industry. 



The Climbing Anabas. — Some doubt having been thrown on the climbing 

 properties of this curious fish {Anabas scandens), Captain Jesse Mitchell, of tho 

 Madras Government Central Museum, states in the Annals Nat. Hist, that his 

 assistant, Mr. Rungasaway Moodeliar, has seen it climb palmyra trees growing by 

 the side of a tank or pool. The fish climbs by means of its opercula, which move 

 unlike those of other fish. It crawls up the tree sideways to the height of five or 

 seven feet, and then drops down. 



Illustration of Negative Evidence. — Many disputes in geology are 

 founded upon the generally unwarrantable assumption that certain animals or 



