Geology and Natural History. 321 



for withdrawing the liquids of the stomach, and the subsequent 

 cultures seem to have been carried on with care. The conclu- 

 sions are the following: (1) In the stomach in the normal con- 

 dition, there are very numerous microbes, some of which can live 

 in strongly acid liquids, and a few of them can exist without air. 

 (2) All oi these microbes, when under the conditions of experi- 

 ment, were found to produce prompt effects on alimentary sub- 

 stances. (3) Taking into account the long time required for 

 some of these microbes to act on the alimentary substances in 

 which they were placed, the author thinks that they must exert 

 their principal effect upon the food after it has passed from the 

 stomach into the intestinal tract. (4) In the intestines, the mi- 

 crobes play a very important part in digestion, since in the ex- 

 periments, that is to say, under what he calls comparatively un- 

 favorable conditions, many of them can decompose alimentary 

 matters. The author regard his results as confirmatory in all 

 respects of the views expressed by Pasteur and Duclaux. G. l. g. 



9. Mr. Morong' s Journey in South America. — Me. Walter 

 Deane, of Cambridge, Mass., sends us the following communica- 

 tion : — " I have received a letter lately from the Rev. Thomas 

 Morong which will interest his friends. The letter is dated 

 Asuncion, Paraguay, Dec. 28, 1888, where he is at present located. 

 Mr. Morong left Boston, July 30, 1888, in the bark Eric J. Ray 

 bound for Buenos Ayres. He went under the auspices of the 

 Torrey Botanical Club, to collect and study the flora of South 

 America, and reached his destination Oct. 8 in just 10 days, after 

 a delightful passage with ' clear days and nights, balmy air and 

 soft breezes.' He has just published a sketch of ' First Glimpses 

 of South American Vegetation ' in the February number of the 

 Torrey Bulletin. He writes in excellent spirits and says, ' My 

 health has been first rate ever since I stepped on South American 

 soil and I have not had to take a drop of medicine once.' Ever 

 since he reached Asuncion, which was about the first of Novem- 

 ber last, he has been most diligently collecting the rich and varied 

 vegetation of that tropical country. He makes the following 

 curious statement : — ' The water vegetation disappoints me, not a 

 Potamogeton, or Naiad, or Chara, to be- found. But I have seen 

 and collected the Victoria regia, and that makes up in a measure 

 for my disappointment.' Mr. Morong says that he has some 

 2500 specimens, including about 250 species, already dried and 

 ready to send north. At Asuncion nobody ventures out of doors 

 between the hours of 11 A. m. and 3 p. m. 'for the sun at 115° is 

 a little too much for flesh and blood.' So his botanical tours are 

 made at 5 a. m. about the time when the business of the city be- 

 gins. ' Botanizing stops when they have a downpour of rain 

 characteristic of that region, for then a regular river runs 

 through the streets, nobody goes out, schools close, stores shut up 

 and all stay at home.' Asuncion is to be his headquarters at 

 present, as he finds that he can accomplish more there than at 

 Buenos Ayres." 



