the most conclusive evidence in favor of those ideas which we advocate.  Indeed, as far back as 1861 we pointed out very clearly that if we could find plants able to live when deprived of air, in the presence of sugar, they would bring about a fermentation of that substance, in the same manner that yeast does.  Such is the case with the fungi already studied; such, too, is the case with the fruits employed in the experiments of Messrs. Lechartier and Bellamy, and in our own experiments, the results of which not only confirm those obtained by these gentlemen, but even extend them, in so far as we have shown that fruits, when surrounded with carbonic acid gas immediately produce alcohol.  When surrounded with air, they live in their aerobian state and we have no fermentation; immersed immediately afterwards in carbonic acid gas, they now assume their anaerobian state, and at once begin to act upon the sugar in the manner of ferments, and emit heat.  As for seeing in these facts anything like a confirmation of the theory of hemi-organism, imagined by M. Fremy, the idea of such a thing is absurd.  The following, for instance, is the theory of the fermentation of the vintage, according to M. Fremy. [Footnote:  Comptes rendus, meeting of January 15th, 1872.]

“To speak here of alcoholic fermentation alone,” our author says, “I hold that in the production of wine it is the juice of the fruit itself that, in contact with air, produces grains of ferment, by the transformation of the albuminous matter; Pasteur, on the other hand, maintains that the fermentation is produced by germs existing outside of the grapes.” [Footnote:  As a matter of fact, M. Fremy applies his theory of hemi-organism, not only to the alcoholic fermentation of grape juice, but to all other fermentations.  The following passage occurs in one of his notes (Comptes rendus de l’Academie, t. lxxv., p. 979, October 28th, 1872): 

“Experiments on Germinated Barley.—­The object of these was to show that when barley, left to itself in sweetened water, produces in succession alcoholic, lactic, butyric, and acetic fermentations, these modifications are brought about by ferments which are produced inside the grains themselves, and not by atmospheric germs.  More than forty different experiments were devoted to this part of my work.”

Need we add that this assertion is based on no substantial foundation?  The cells belonging to the grains of barley, or their albuminous contents, never do produce cells of alcoholic ferment, or of lactic ferment, or butyric vibrios.  Whenever those ferments appear, they may be traced to germs of those organisms, diffused throughout the interior of the grains, or adhering to the exterior surface, or existing in the water employed, or on the side of the vessels used.  There are many ways of demonstrating this, of which the following is one:  Since the results of our experiments have shown that sweetened water, phosphates, and chalk very readily give rise to lactic and butyric