fi74 ^^ ^^' Compqfilion of Azotey i^c. 



«« Water itfelf, or fome fubftance in water, is, in my opinion, changed into this fpecies of 

 ♦' vegetation. It is a real tranfmutation, which may appear incomprehenfible to a phi- 

 ♦' lofopher, but which, in reality, is not more extraordinary than the transformation of 

 " grafs and other vegetables into fat in thofe animals which feed upon plants, or than that 

 •' of the aqueous juice of the olive into oil." 



Water is changed into a plant. Tins is the faft. Ingenhoufz ftops there, and fays, 

 I do not comprehend it ; this is the language of a philofopher. Prieftley, on the con- 

 trary, is fcandalized at fuch language. He aflcs Ingenhoufz if he is not afhamed to wifli 

 to re-eftablifli the long refuted doftrine of fpontaneous generation *. 



He fpeaks to him nearly in the language of the inquifitor to Galileo, when he proved 

 to that immortal man that the fun turns round the earth. Prieftley afterwards gives us 

 his own theory of the produdlion of the organized azote. He fays, that the feeds of this 

 plant float every where in the air, over the earth, the fea, the Alps, the low ground, at 

 the poles, and at the equator, in fummer, in winter, and in every feafon, and that they 

 are received into water where they germinate. But organized azote is produced in bottle* 

 well ftopped. Dr. Ingenhoufz has even proved that if a bottle be filled with well water, 

 and reverfed over a bafin filled with water, a great quantity of organized azote will be 

 formed. Prieftley, who could not, without attributing a fuperior intelligence to the 

 pretended feeds of this plant, maintain that they cape through the water purpofely to fix 



• Dr. Prieftley fays, that the theory of fpontaneous generation is a doflrine long (ince refuted. Thefe 

 are his words : — -" Confidering how long tlie doflrine of equivocal, or fpontaneous generation has been. 

 " exploded." A philofopher ftiould never make ufe of fuch an exprcllion. There is not an exploded 

 opinion which we may not recur to and re-examine. The philofopher acknowledges no authority which, 

 prohibits him from admitting any opinion, or forbids him to examine it. There are many other opinions 

 long fmce exploded to which we muft now fiive recourfe. That, for inftance, of the tranfmutation of 

 metals. What chemift, of the prefent day, would prefume to deny the poffibility of it; The change of 

 one metal into another fliould appear lefs difficult than the changing of the fweeteft body (fugar) into the 

 foureft body (the oxalic acid) ; than the change of the hardeft body (the diamond) into the fofteft body, the 

 carbonic acid gas ; or than the changing the moft tranfparent body, the diamond, into coal, the moft opaque 

 of all bodies. In the nineteenth century, the tranfmutation of metals will be generally known and prac- 

 tifed. Every cfiemift, every artift, will make gold. The utenfils for our kitchens will be made of filver, 

 or even of gold, and this will contribute, more than any thing elfe, to prolong life, which has hitherto 

 been poifoned by the oxyde of copper, lead, and iron, which we daily fwallow at our meals. There will 

 then be no other wealth than natural wealth, the produftion of the foil. Artificial wealth, fuch as gold, 

 filver, and paper, will, be- extingui/hed in the hands of thofe who /hall have accumulated them. What a 

 revolution in focietyl But every enlightened chemift will agree with me, tliat this revolution is not ianly 

 probable, but near.-— Note of the author. 



Though I have no remarks to offer on this laft affertion of our author, I cannot forbear remarking that, 

 gold and filver, tliough much ufed as figns of wealth, or tickets of commercial transfer, have always, and 

 more efpecially in modern times, conftituted a very fmail portion of national wealth. If gold could be 

 rendered as cheap as iron, the effefl; upon the wealth of fociety would be incomparably lefs than has refulted, 

 from either of the inventions of the ftocking loom, the fpining gear, or the fteam engine.— N. 



themfslves 



