269 
ALCOHOLIC FERMENTATION. 
M. Pasteur, who has made this his special study for 
some years, announces that the generally received opinion 
that cane sugar, C 12 H u O n , after being modified into grape 
sugar, C 12 ll 12 0 12 , when mixed with yeast, ferments, and 
splits up into alcohol and carbonic acid, the sum of the 
weights of which represent very nearly the weight of the 
sugar, is only a rough approximation to the truth ; and that 
amongst the products of the fermentation are glycerine, suc¬ 
cinic acid, cellulose, and some other undetermined matters — 
100 grammes of sugar-candy, fermented with 1*198 grammes 
of dry yeast, gave after fermentation— 
Glycerine ..... 3640 
Succinic acid .... 0-673 
Cellulose, &c. .... 1633 
5946 
The elements of these bodies being furnished solely by the 
sugar. M. Pasteur is still engaged in the study of the trans¬ 
formations which sugar undergoes inconsistent with the 
theoretical equation C 12 H 12 0 12 ss 4 C0 2 + 2 (C 4 H 6 0 2 ).— 
Chemical Nevis. 
CELLULES OE PUS IN THE ATMOSPHERE. 
Cellules of pus in the atmosphere of an hospital have 
been discovered by Dr. Eiselt, of Prague, by means of 
PoucheUs aeroscope. He considers them to have been the 
means of propagating ophthalmia amongst the children of 
the Foundling Hospital at Prague, ninety-two cases having 
occurred out of 250 children. Appreciating the importance 
of the discovery, several members of the Imperial Society of 
Physicians at Vienna have agreed to meet to examine into 
the researches of Dr. Eiselt, and to report the results.— 
Cosmos . 
PROPAGATION OF FISH AS FOOD FOR THE PEOPLE. 
The Agricultural Society of France has just had the dif¬ 
ferent rivers of the Basses Alpes stocked with 740,000 eggs 
of the Fera, one of the best kinds of fish in the Swiss lakes, 
and belonging to the same family as the salmon.— The Press. 
