BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. 
43 
action ; and that the atmospheric air is of no further use 
than in furnishing nitrogen to aid the process. Gluten, 
when present, is certainly a great incentive to fermentation, 
and it is further heightened by acetic acid. The development 
of heat may be accounted for, first, by the theory of the 
co-production of alcohol; and secondly, from latent heat 
being developed when the oxygen enters into the state of 
acid. In the process of putrefaction, there is always a re- 
carbonization of part of the ingredients, and a consequent 
evolution of hydrogen. But though immense masses of 
vegetation are continually undergoing destruction, by a dis- 
organization of their component elements, these afford nutri- 
ment for a new generation ; and it is clear that there is also 
a symmetrical proportion in the various other departments of 
nature, — that the same causes which operate on one part of 
her works, very frequently operate alike in the other depart- 
ments. A discussion afterwards ensued upon the various 
topics bi’oached by Mr. Hopkins, after which the Society 
adjourned.” 
JUNE 1st, and JULY 6th. 
J. E. Gray, Esq., F.R.S., President, in the Chair. 
At the former meeting, the second part of Mr. Arthur 
Wallis’s Paper on the Flora of Chelmsford, was read. (See 
p. 37-) Specimens of Leucojum JEstivum , from the marshes by 
the river side, between Woolwich and Greenwich, Kent, were 
exhibited and distributed by Mr. D. Cooper, who described 
the locality as being at the bend of the river, directly facing 
the Plough Tavern, Blackwall. The continuation and con- 
clusion of Mr. Manley Hopkins’s paper on Vegetable Fer- 
mentation, occupied the remaining portion of the first even- 
ing, and the entire of the meeting held July 6th. 
