SECRETARY'S REPORT. 257 



gone, enables him to come ; wliilc tlic otlior may test these conclu- 

 sions by experiment, or may be able, from his experience, at once 

 to refute or confirm them. But it will not do to imagine that there 

 is here either a triumph or a defeat. Such a spirit cannot be any thing 

 but injurious. It is rather to be looked upon as a fortunate state 

 of matters, which admitting of the examination of our conclusions 

 from two different points of view, directs us with the greater cer- 

 tainty in the path of truth." 



It is undeniable that chemistry is as needful to the successful 

 investigation of the principles which underlie agriculture, as an 

 alphabet is needful to the study of language ; and this, because it is 

 only by its aid that we can understand the elementary constitution 

 of matter and its affinities ; and it is just as true, that alone, it is 

 insufficient to teach a great deal which we need to know in agricul- 

 ture, and this, because, (not to mention other deficiencies) chemistry 

 proper teaches nothing at all in regard to living, organized matter. 

 What is called organic chemistry^ full of interest and importance 

 as it most certainly is, is merely the chemistry of substances once 

 organized and living, but alive no longer — the mere remains of 

 organization. Chemistry cannot so much as put her finger upon 

 living tissues, for they die ere it reaches them. No examination 

 whatever of these by chemistry is possible, from the very nature of 

 the case. A skillful chemist might be able to determine the proxi- 

 mate constituents and the ultimate elements of which seeds are 

 composed, but all the chemistry in the world could not enable him 

 to determine of two seeds that one would produce an apple and the 

 other a cabbage, nor to pronounce upon the conditions necessary to 

 their successful development and growth. 



It is the province of Physiology to teach the laws in accordance 

 with which are determined and regulated the production and devel- 

 opment, the maintenance and decay of organic bodies ; under which 

 bead are included all the members of two of the great divisions in 

 nature, viz : the vegetable kingdom and the animal kingdom. If 

 we understand and obey these laws, we may secure abundance, 

 symmetry, health and profit. If we disobey them, either through 

 ignorance, carelessness or design, our wages are disease, decay, 

 deformity and poverty. 



The science of Botany is of use to the farmer, inasmuch as it 

 enables him to recognize or identify plants, both those worthy of cul- 

 tivation and the weeds which are troublesome or pernicious. Even 



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