302 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE, 



Nitrogen in many of its aspects, and in its behavior, must 

 be regarded as the most remarkable of all the elements. The 

 popular notion of its use in the atmosphere, that it is simply 

 a diluent of oxygen, is probably correct. It must subserve 

 other and important purposes ; but, to ordinary observation, 

 it appears to have been supplied by the Supreme Intelligence 

 for the main purpose of so attenuating oxygen as to keep it 

 within safe bounds as a respiratory agent and supporter of 

 combustion. It is the most stupid, so to speak, and negative,. 

 of the large family of elements. It resists chemical combina- 

 tions with remarkable persistency ; and, when forced into 

 such unions, the affinity is slight, and disruption is easy. It 

 may be said to be the most unimportant and yet the most 

 important of all the elements, — a paradoxical statement 

 easily comprehended by every chemist. It is docile, negative, 

 unaggressive in its natural state ; but, when forced into com- 

 bination with oxygen, it gives us acids with teeth sharp 

 enough to gnaw a file. When combined with potash, and 

 the resultant salt mixed with a little sulphur and charcoal, 

 it gives us gunpowder, — an agent well known to possess ex- 

 traordinary properties. When associated with tlie bland and 

 sweet substance known as glycerine, it forms nitro-glycerine, 

 dynamite, lithofracture, giant-powder, — agents so terrible as 

 to appall mankind by their destructiveness. Shreds of cotton 

 picked from the ripened bolls which open to the southern 

 sun, when placed for a few moments in the acid which is 

 born of nitrogen, suddenly lose their innocent nature, and 

 each becomes a giant in power, capable of levelling forests 

 and mountains at the touch of fire. Nitrogen forms the 

 basis upon which rest the great chemical forces so destructive, 

 and yet so useful to the race. It comes out of its chemical 

 unions with a crash, terrible and irresistible ; but it at once 

 assumes its usual dead condition, and floats in the air with 

 all the harmlessness of the summer breeze. When introduced 

 into the human or animal organism, it originates and sustains 

 nervous or muscular force. We move our limbs, and conduct 

 the physical labors of life, through the agency of nitrogen or 

 its compounds. Our nnimals, the oxen and horses which we 

 rear, are only serviceable in the yoke and harness through 

 the changes resulting in the combinations and elimination of 

 nitrogen. After it has served its purpose in the body, it does 



