654 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
Valentia. The oil extracted from the fruit is used principally for burning, 
but it has the disagreeable property of becoming congealed very easily, even 
in the torrid zone. The hard shell is calcined, and used as a remedy in 
various diseases. The mUk or water of the nut is cooling and pleasant, and 
is generally taken with gin. Drunk in excess, it is said to act as an aphro- 
disiac. Cuji {Acacia Farnesiana) is a plant whose pods in decoction are 
taken in chronic diarrhoeas. The juice of the pounded pods is said to act 
with good effect in inflammation of the eyes. It dyes the hair black. By 
condensing it over the fire, it becomes a blackish, exceedingly astringent 
substance, resembling catechu. The gum which exudes from the stem is 
used like gum- Arabic. Car do Santo {Argemone Mexicana) is throughout 
tropical America one of the most esteemed medicinal plants, and it is almost 
everywhere known by the same popular name, Cardo Santo, or holy thistle. 
A decoction of the leaves is much used in intermittent fevers, on account 
of its powerful sudorific properties. Mr. Ernst is acquainted with a man 
who, after suffering for a whole year, completely cured himself in a short 
time by using this remedy. A decoction of the seeds has the same effeet. 
Aspidium fragrans. — In a note to the Canadian Naturalist, vol. ii.. No. 3, 
we find that Dr. Thomas has been fortunate enough to discover this rare fern 
at Riviere-du-loup (en has). The only other locality known to the discoverer 
is the east shore of Lake Superior, in rocky open woods, where it was found 
by Mr. Barnston in 1859. Asplcnium viride has also been found by Dr. 
Thomas at the same place. The provincial range of this fern would thus 
appear to be from Canada East and New Brunswick to Newfoundland. 
CHEMISTRY. 
The Preservation of Wines has received considerable attention from M. 
Pasteur, who now advances his opinions as to the requisite conditions for the 
preservation of the fermented products of the grape. He believes that he 
has established — (1) that wine ripens, or, in other words, is improved by age 
simply by the action of atmospheric oxygen ; (2) that when wine becomes 
what is called sick, it is in consequence of the presence of parasitic vegeta- 
tion ; (3) deposits form in wine, either in consequence of oxidation, or from 
the presence of parasites, or more frequently from both causes together ; 
(4) the deposits resulting from oxidation adhere, but parasites render wine 
turbid. Consequently the most important thing for the preservation of wines 
is to destroy the vitality of the parasitic germs. The author shows that new 
wine placed in bottles from which the air is excluded gives no deposit, does 
not change colour, and never develops a bouquet. On the contrary, the 
ame wine under the influence of the oxygen of the air becomes muddy, 
loses the taste of new wine, does change in colour, and acquires a bouquet : 
he adds, that all these effects of “ ageing ” may he produced in a few weeks. 
His process consists essentially in destroying the vitality of the parasitic 
germs by exposing the wine for a time to a high temperature. It is,- he says, 
sufficient to raise the wine for a few minutes to 60 or 70 centigrade (140 to 
150^^ of our thermometer), to give an extraordinary power of resisting sick- 
