458  Congress  of  Applied  Chemistry.  {k^^S; 
The  social  and  recreative  features  of  the  meeting  were  well  arranged  and  of 
great  interest  and  profit.  Wednesday  was  Salem  Day.  The  scientists  took  the 
train  or  steamer  to  Salem  and  were  the  guests  of  the  Essex  Institute.  Here  the 
local  committee  served  the  party  with  an  old-fashioned  New  England  shore 
dinner,  after  which  the  ancient  landmarks  of  this  historic  city  were  visited.  On 
Friday  Harvard  University  did  the  honors  for  the  visiting  scientists,  and  gave  the 
members  of  the  American  Association  every  opportunity  for  looking  over  the 
treasures  contained  in  the  University  libraries  and  museums,  as  well  as  for 
familiarizing  themselves  by  first-hand  inspection  with  the  methods  and  facili- 
ties for  work  in  all  the  various  departments  of  the  institution. 
On  Saturday,  August  27th,  after  five  days  of  work  and  pleasure,  the  American 
Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science  closed  the  sessions  of  its  conven- 
tion. The  convention  itself  has  been  highly  successful  as  well  as  important. 
Papers  read  have  been  of  exceptional  value,  and  many  discoveries  of  interest 
to  the  scientific  world  have  been  brought  to  light.  In  many  cases  these  dis- 
coveries have  been  the  result  of  years  of  patient  research.  Equally  important 
are  the  suggestions  that  have  been  made,  and  the  fruit  of  them  will  be  seen  at 
next  year's  meeting  at  Columbus,  O.,  where  the  Association  will  meet.  Pro- 
fessor Edward  Orton,  State  Geologist  of  Ohio,  was  selected  as  President  for  1899. 
During  the  Association  week,  and  the  days  immediately  preceding,  a  number 
of  affiliated  societies  met  in  Boston,  including  the  American  Forestry  Associa- 
tion, the  Geological  Society  of  America,  the  American  Chemical  Society,  the 
Association  of  Economic  Entomologists,  the  Society  for  the  Promotion  of 
Engineering  Education,  the  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Agricultural  Science, 
the  American  Mathematical  Society,  the  National  Geographic  Society,  the 
American  Folk  Lore  Society,  the  Botanical  Society  of  America,  and  several 
other  important  bodies. 
THIRD  INTERNATIONAL  CONGRESS  OF  APPLIED 
CHEMISTRY. 
The  Third  International  Congress  of  Applied  Chemistry  met  in  Vienna  July 
27-August  2,  1898.  After  the  various  addresses  by  the  President  of  the  Congress, 
Honorary  President  of  the  Organization  Committee  and  others,  and  the  election 
of  the  Honorary  President  and  Vice-presidents  of  the  Congress,  Professor  Buch- 
ner  gave  his  address  on  Fermentation  without  Yeast  Cells.  For  the  informa- 
tion of  this  Congress  we  are  indebted  to  the  Chemiker  Zeitung  (August  num- 
bers) and  Brit,  and  Col.  Drug.,  August  19,  1898.  Biichner  previously 
published  his  work  in  the  early  part  of  the  present  year  on  alcoholic  fermenta- 
tion. He  obtained  a  liquor,  called  zymase,  from  yeast  cells,  which  is  capa- 
ble of  starting  the  alcoholic  fermentation  of  sugar.  So  that  he  has  here  the 
product  of  a  living  organism,  and  not  the  organism  that  is  the  cause  of  fermen- 
tation. The  labors  of  Biichner  would  tend  to  re-establish  the  now  discarded 
theory  of  lyiebig,  that  fermentation  is  a  purely  chemical  process.  This  zymase 
is  only  obtained  on  subjecting  yeast  cells  to  a  hydraulic  pressure  of  more  than 
500  atmospheres,  and  then  it  is  as  an  expressed  liquor  containing  this  ferment- 
ing substance.  In  concluding  his  admirable  address  the  speaker  said  "  it  must 
be  left  to  the  future  to  define  the  exact  boundary  between  living  plasma  and  a 
fermentive  substance,  between  the  highest  representatives  of  inorganic  nature 
and  the  most  rudimentary  and  elementary  form  of  organic  life." 
