DR. SCHLEIDEN'S THEORY OF AGRICULTUKE. 37 



ally destroyed. The destruction of organic matter by men and 

 animals, according to the observations of Valentin, amounts to 

 one billion annually. And supposing the consumption of fuel by 

 each individual to amount in the year to one cord of wood, on 

 data afforded by the consumption of Germany, without taking 

 into account the extensive natural conflagrations which are so 

 frequent and disastrous in many parts of the world, there is a 

 consumption on this account of 40 billions of dry organic matter. 

 The annual destruction then amounts to 145 billions. Now sup- 

 posing the specific gravity of the matter on an average to be 

 equal to that of water, we have 2^ billions of cubic feet. And 

 since the above mentioned surface contains 1164 billions of 

 square feet, to satisfy the necessary conditions for the nutrition 

 of the vegetable worJd, there must have been 5000 years back 

 lO feet deep of pure organic substance on its surface, supposing 

 nutrition to be dependent on organic matter. 



The following example will still further explain the author's 

 views. In the year 1844 France possessed, according to sta- 

 tistical reports, 10,709,391 of the large animals, such as horses 

 and beast, 30,859,454 of the smaller, as swine, .^lieep, calves, &c. 

 Now if the daily annihilation of organic matter in the former 

 case be reckoned at 1 1 lbs. per head, and that of the small at 3, 

 the process of nutrition has entirely destroyed in the course of the 

 year 76,789,000,000 lbs. of organic matter, that is six times more 

 than the weight contributed by the whole mass of small and 

 great taken together, reckoning the larger at 1000 lbs., the 

 smaller at 600,* with 50 per cent, of dry organic matter. Now 

 if we suppose that the other animals and plants of France con- 

 tain 600 times as much organic matter, the whole organic material 

 of the country would be consumed by the nutriment of the stock 

 in a hundred years. And the application is easy to the whole 

 universe. 



It follows then that a process must exist for the sustenance of 

 organic life upon the earth, in due proportion, which must be 

 diametrically opposite to the process of nutrition in animals, and 

 the consequent decomposition ; and as that continually destroys 

 organic matter and changes it into inorganic combinations, as 

 water, carbonic acid, and ammonia, so this must form organic 

 materials out of the inorganic elements. Since this process exists 

 neither in the animal nor inorganic creation, it can be no other 

 than the process of life and nutrition in plants ; and if this is 

 true generally, it is true of those plants which are the object of 

 husbandry. 



* There must be some error in the numbers here, as an average of 60 

 would be nearer the truth. The principle, however, remains the same. 



