This observation had already been made by Anthon and H. Hoffmann. “If we scrape the surface of a gooseberry with a blunt knife,” says H. Hoffmann, “and put under the microscope the scrapings, which are of a whitish colour, we shall recognize amongst many varieties of shapeless dirt, earthy particles and other things, the same fungoid spores that we find in the expressed juice, but we shall see them there in infinitely larger quantities. Some of them will be of a dusky colour (_Stemphylium_, _Cladosporium_), and others will be colourless; the shape of these latter will be round or oval, and cylindrical. Most of them will bear resemblance to beads of the _chaplets_ of _Oidium_, _Monilia_, _Torula_ (that is to say, to spores of certain _Hyphomycetes_), which have been detached and carried off by the wind, and have attached themselves to the fruit. Some of these spores will be already provided with short germinating filaments.” (_Annales des Sciences Naturelles, Botanique_, t. xiii. p. 21, 1860). Footnote 36: The experiments that we have described give rise to a useful remark. All the organic liquids, boiled or not, in the course of time must take up oxygen from the air. At the same time, and certainly under this influence, they assume an amber or brownish colour, but this effect is only produced when the liquids are placed under conditions of unalterability. Should fermentation or the development of fungoid growths be possible, scarcely any change of colour will take place. Doubtless this non-coloration may be attributed to the fact that these organisms consume the oxygen necessary for coloration. In these experiments on must, all the unchanged flasks assumed a pale yellowish brown colour; those which fermented or contained fungoid growths remained colourless, or nearly so. Footnote 37: _Comptes rendus de l’Académie, séance du 28 Octobre, 1872._ Footnote 38: GAY-LUSSAC, _Annales de Chimie_, t. lxxvi. p. 245; read at the Institute, December 3rd, 1810. Long before Gay-Lussac, it had been remarked that atmospheric air had a great influence on fermentation. See M. Chevreul’s articles on the history of chemistry in the _Journal des Savants_. Footnote 39: GAY-LUSSAC, _Annales de Chimie_, t. lxxvi. p. 247, _Mémoire cité_, 1810. Footnote 40: It is well to notice that under the influence of fungoid growths, properly so called, the wort of beer speedily becomes bright. We may say that fungoid growths, by their rapid development, clarify the must, which serves to nourish them. Footnote 41: