CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 207 



INFLUENCE OF NITROGEN UPON VEGETATION. 



IT had been supposed hitherto that the nitrogen which enters into 

 the composition of atmospheric air exercised but a very secondary in- 

 fluence in the process of vegetation ; that the amount of this substance 

 which is absorbed by plants in considerable quantities was obtained ex- 

 clusively from the soil and from manures. M. Wille, a French chem- 

 ist, has been devoting himself during the last three years to the solu- 

 tion of the phenomena of vegetation, and has made this problem the sub- 

 ject of a communication to the French Academy. He declares that he 

 has demonstrated, by a series of experiments, that the nitrogen of the 

 atmosphere, far from being inactive, performs a most important part in 

 the nutrition of vegetables. He submits the result, and prays the 

 Academy to nominate a commission to examine his work, his process, 

 his apparatus, and report upon the value which science should place 

 upon his labors. The commission has been appointed. It consists of 

 MM. Cherreul, Regnault, De Jussieu, Boussingault, and Payen. 



RELATIONS OF THE NITROGEN OF THE AIR TO RESPIRATION 



AND VOICE. 



PROF. JAMES MOULTRIE has published a paper on the uses of the ni- 

 trogen of the air in respiration. It is known that the quantity of nitro- 

 gen in expired air is not materially changed, or at least the change is 

 not constant enough to warrant a belief that nitrogen takes any active 

 and essential part in the chemistry of respiration. Physiologists have 

 had to content themselves with the rather meagre view, that it serves 

 simply to dilute the oxygen. Dr. Monitrie suggests that the nitrogen 

 is important to the physical relations of the respiratory function, regu- 

 lating the tension of the air in the pulmonary vesicles, or its volume, 

 or both. It would serve chiefly to regulate the tension of the pulmo- 

 nary air during expiration. As a medium of sound, responding in part 

 to the vibrations of the vocal chords, or exciting their vibrations, or 

 preserving the volume and tension of the pulmonic air in that state 

 which is essential to the ready and constant use of these organs as in- 

 struments of voice, would not the withdrawing of one half of that ele- 

 ment materially change their value in the part assigned them in animal 

 life to fulfil ? By ingenious symbols, Dr. Moultrie traces the nitrogen 

 particles from the atmosphere till they part from their oxygen in the 

 pulmonary vesicles, and shows that then, mingled with the carbonic 

 acid and vapor which are to be exhaled, they must contribute to pre- 

 serve the volume and tension of the cells and extreme tubes of the 

 lungs. Charleston Medical Journal and Review. 



VALUE OF THE GREEN-SAND FOR AGRICULTURAL PURPOSES. 



AT a meeting of the Boston Society of Natural History in March, 

 the following remarks were made relative to the economical value of 

 the green-sand formation. Prof. Johnson, of England, stated, that in 

 Great Britain, where it has been found, this substance possesses remark- 



