590 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. [January 21 ,1871. 
siderably greater than the diameter ; they are not little 
spherical matters, like the wine ferment, and their dia¬ 
meter is exceedingly small, being about the one-thou¬ 
sandth part of a millimetre. That is one fact which M. 
Pasteur has established, and the other is this, that while 
this process is going on, lactic acid is present; and his 
explanation of the malady consists in attributing it to 
the presence of this particular parasite in the wine, which 
is transforming the materials of it into lactic acid, with 
no doubt some other product, at the same time. Another 
malady which not unfrequently occurs in wine, is ropi¬ 
ness ; and it is said that wine suffering acutely from this 
malady might almost be mistaken for oil, when poured 
from one vessel to another, so thickly does it flow. That 
peculiarity is attributed solely to the presence in it of a 
number of little films peculiar to it; but they are very 
different to the eye, and very different also in their func¬ 
tions from the films which constitute the active agency 
of the process I have just mentioned, that of turning. 
These little films are like little strings of beads, little 
spherical particles, a great number of them joined end 
to end. The particular nature of the transformation 
which the wine undergoes has not been investigated, 
but, as far as M. Pasteur’s observations go, and they are 
very numerous and accurate, these little strings of beads 
are really active agents in that particular transformation 
which constitutes ropiness, and which destroys wine; 
for, if it cannot be arrested, the wine ceases to be drink¬ 
able, and becomes worthless. The fourth malady, which 
is also one of frequent occurrence, is one which produces 
a bitterness, and it is said that this malady is one to 
which wine is subject in its youth and also in its old age; 
that it sometimes occurs when wine is two or three years 
old, and sometimes, though in a less acute form, when it 
is very old. Here, also, a particular parasite is present, 
little organized particles, which have been minutely de¬ 
scribed and depicted, and they are found in various states, 
some differing very much from the others. Some pic¬ 
tures of the parasites which constitute the bitter ferment 
are like little branches with a number of little knobs or 
warts upon them, and some of them are clear and trans¬ 
parent, whilst others are coated with an incrustation. 
M. Pasteur, however, has already shown that the little 
knobs or warts upon them, and the incrustation which 
frequently occurs, are nothing else than foreign matter 
deposited upon them, that when the parasite dies it is 
liable to be encrusted, but that in a pure state it is clear 
and transparent. This parasite, when it occurs in young 
wine, renders it completely worthless, but when it occurs 
in old wine, it only gives such an amount of bitterness 
as is not fatal to the wine, and is, to a certain extent, 
exceedingly common, so that it is considered almost a. 
natural accompaniment of old wine. Amongst the re¬ 
medies for these processes is sulphurous acid, which, of 
course, would destroy parasites when they are present. 
AVe can quite understand that wine which has got germs 
of these little organic beings present in it is liable to un¬ 
dergo these injurious changes if the germs are allowed 
to develope themselves, but that it would be free from all 
such tendency if, by any poisonous material, the little 
germs or organisms were destroyed. We can also un¬ 
derstand that any mechanical process of filtration, or of 
forming in the liquid a gelatinous mass which will sub¬ 
side and carry down with it any fine particles which may 
be present in suspension, but which are too light to settle 
of themselves, would effect the same object; and it is 
quite • intelligible, that if Pasteur’s view is correct, that 
these little solid particles are the active agents of those 
transformations, the processes which have commonly 
been in use for preventing the detriment of wine by such 
changes should be effectual; we can quite see why they 
ought and indeed must be effectual, but, at the same 
time, we cannot help seeing that they would be very 
liable to be incomplete. Of course, it is a matter of 
chance whether, if you form a precipitate in. the liquid, 
the little light particles would all happen to be caught 
by some of this precipitate when going down. We 
should expect that any such process would be efficacious 
in diminishing the evil, but not in arresting it com¬ 
pletely, and I believe that is exactly what is found by 
expeiiencc. (To be continued.) 
MEETINGS FOR TI1E ENSUING WEEK. 
Monday . Medical Society, at 9 p.m. 
London Institution, at 4 p.m. —“ On the First 
Principles of Biology.” By Prof. Huxley. 
Tuesday . Loyal Medical and Ghirurgical Society, at 
8.30 p.m. 
Wednesday... Society of Arts, at 8 p.m. —“New Paper¬ 
making Materials and the Pi'ogress of the 
Paper Manufacture.” By P. L. Simmonds. 
London Institution, at 7 p.m. —Conversazione. 
“ On Dust and Disease.” By Prof. Tyndall. 
Thursday . Loyal Society, at 8.30 p.m. 
London Institution, at 7.30. p.m.— “ On the 
Action, Nature, and Detection of Poisons.” 
By F. S. Barff. 
London Chemists’ Association, at 9.30 p.m.— 
“Preservation of Vegetable Substances.” 
By E. Beynon. 
Friday . Loyal Institution, at 8 p.m.—L ecture by 
Professor Odling. 
QueJcett Club, at 8 p.m. 
Saturday . Loyal Lotanic Society, at 3.45 p.m. 
farlramtntag mri fstto f roactags. 
A Druggist acting as an Accoucheur. 
At an inquest, held on Wednesday last, before the 
Brighton Borough Coroner, to inquire into the death of 
a young woman shortly after her confinement, evidence 
was given gravely implicating William Henry Funnell, 
a chemist and druggist. 
The deceased, it appeared, had made an arrangement 
with Mr. Funnell to attend her during her confinement, 
it being alleged that he represented to her that he had 
been in the habit of attending night cases and cases of 
emergency for Mr. Tuke, surgeon, with whom he formerly 
lived as dispenser. When the time came, symptoms of 
unusual difficulty set in, with which he was evidently 
quite incompetent to cope. After the lapse of some time 
he called in skilled assistance, and the delivery was 
effected, but the patient died half an hour afterwards 
from exhaustion. 
Medical evidence was given to the effect that although 
the case was an unusual one, it was one that a skilled 
practitioner would have recognized and treated accord¬ 
ingly. Mr. Tuke denied that Mr. Funnell was justified 
in saying that he attended his night cases. He said that 
Mr. Funnell did attend several labours for him, in cases of 
emergency, while acting as his dispenser, but he inva¬ 
riably saw the cases afterwards himself, and Mr. Funnell 
always referred to him if any symptoms appeared which 
he could not understand. 
The jury returned a verdict that the deceased had 
died through not having had proper medical attendance 
until too late, and requested the coroner to censure Mr. 
Funnell for his conduct in the matter. 
This the coroner did, telling him that the only reason 
why the jury refrained from sending him for trial on a 
charge of manslaughter was that the case was an unusual 
one, and that he had devoted a great deal of time to it. 
If the jury had been a severe, instead of a very kindly 
and lenient one, he would have been committed for trial 
on the criminal charge, and thus put in a position of great 
peril. —Brighton Daily News. 
Singular Case of Poisoning by Arsenic. 
An inquiry has just taken place into a supposed case 
of poisoning by arsenic, which resulted in a farmer 
named Knowles, living at Tipp’s End, Up well, near 
Wisbeach, being committed for trial for the manslaughter 
