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POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
whither he had gone to take part in the proceedings of the British Associa- 
tion. Dr. Miller was horn at Ipswich, on December 17, 1817, and in his 
twenty-fourth year he became assistant to the late Mr. Daniell, Professor of 
Chemistry in King’s College, London. In 1844, he co-operated with his 
master in the publication of a paper on the ‘‘Electrolysis of Secondary Com- 
pounds.” In the following year he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, 
and succeeded Mr. Daniell in the chair of chemistry in King’s College. His 
chief work at this time was his paper on the “ Spectra of certain Vapours,” 
published in 1845. In 1849, he again came before the scientific world with 
a paper on the “ Atomic Volumes of Organic Liquids.” From this date his 
time appears to have been chiefly absorbed by other than purely scientific 
subjects. He held the posts of treasurer of the Royal Society, president 
and afterwards vice-president of the Chemical Society, and assay er to the 
Royal Mint, besides being member of the Science Commission. His later 
contributions to the scientific periodicals were, a paper on “ Transparency,” 
in the “ Journal of the Chemical Society,” some “ Analyses of GuttaPercha,” 
and “A Treatise on Potable Water.” In conjunction with Mr. Huggins he 
investigated the spectra of the fixed stars. He is known to the educational 
world by his voluminous and widely popular “Treatise on Chemistry,” in 
three parts, which originally appeared from 1855 to 1857, and which has 
already gone through several editions. Although Professor Miller was not 
a member of the Society, he took an active interest in its operations, and 
served on several of its committees. 
The Theories of Fermentation. — In the “Bayerisches Industrie- und Ge- 
werbe-Blatt ” (August), Herr Dr. A. Weinberg gives a very exhaustive paper 
on the above subject. It was originally a lecture before the Chemical 
Society of Munich, and deals as follows with the several investigators 
who deserve to be named in connection with the subject: 1. Those who 
consider fermentation to be a purely chemical process, the result of the 
chemical action of the ferment or yeast on the sugar ; MM. Trommsdorff 
and Meissner are the founders of this theory. 2. Those who consider fer- 
mentation to be a process of galvanic decomposition, called forth by the 
dualism of the exciting body in a conducting fluid ; this theory was founded 
by M. Kamtz, and among its adherents are MM. Schweigger, Colin, and 
Kolle. 3. Those who consider it as a catalytic process, or as due to the 
action of porous bodies \ this theory was founded by M. Berzelius. 4. Those 
who consider that fermentation is due to the action of certain nitrogenous 
matter, which is itself permanently in a state of decomposition, which is 
imparted to the sugar as soon as it (the sugar) comes into contact with the 
decomposing nitrogenous matter under favourable conditions — the conse- 
quence being the splitting up of the sugar into alcohol and carbonic acid ; 
this view has been established by Dr. von Liebig, and is adhered to, among 
others, by MM. Fremy, Lowig, Gerhardt, &c. 5. Lastly, fermentation is 
viewed as being a kind of process of vegetation, the newly-formed yeast 
being considered as the newly-generated plant ; this view is held by MM. 
Erzleben, Cagniard-Latour, Schwann, Dumas, Mulder, and others. 
The Manufacture of Iodine, according to Professor Wagner, already 
amounts to 30,000 pounds a year. 
Analysis of Birmingham TV ater. — Dr. Hill read a paper before the British 
