90 MR. SOLLY ON THE 



putrefaction of animal matter, and caused barley and other 

 fermentable substances to pass into spirit with increased 

 rapidity.* 



Gardini's book, ' De Influxu Electricitatis atmosphsericse in 

 vegetantia Dissertatio,' &c., 1784, contained similar views to 

 those entertained by Bertholon, and some further applications of 

 the theory to the good or bad crops of different years. He, in 

 particular, quotes the year 1783 as being remarkable for the 

 abundant crops obtained in all parts of Europe, whilst the 

 previous year had been as remarkable for a deficiency : this 

 superiority of the year 1783 he attributes to the abundance of 

 atmospheric electricity, which was unusually strong-, whilst the 

 preceding season had been noted for the absence of electricity. 



About fourteen years before. Professor Gardini had stretched 

 across the garden of a monastery at Turin a number of iron wires, 

 for the purpose of some experiments on atmospheric electricity. 

 After a short time the garden, which had hitherto been remarkably 

 productive, began to fail, the plants became unfruitful and 

 withered away, and the monks, attributing this change to the 

 influence of Gardini's wires, took them down ; when, after a 

 short time, the plants began to revive again, and the garden was 

 soon as productive as before. Gardini explained this, on the sup- 

 position that the wires deprived the plants below of that natural 

 supply of electricity which was necessary to their healthy 

 growth. 



About this time Dr. Ingenhousz, of Vienna, had published a 

 translation of Dr. Franklin's theory of electricity, in which he 

 spoke rather slightingly of the views of those who attributed such 

 great influence to electricity in accelerating the growth of 

 plants ; and, in general, expressed his belief, after mature con- 

 sideration, that if not altogether deceived, they had at all events 

 very greatly exaggerated the effects of electricity on vegetation. 

 This statement drew the attention of Professor Schwankhardt, of 

 Vienna, who persuaded Dr. Ingenhousz to repeat with him the 

 experiments which had led him to a conclusion so decidedly 

 opposed to the generally received opinion ; an account of these 

 investigations was published by Schwankhardt in 1785.| The 

 following is an outline of them : — a piece of cork about three 

 lines in thickness, and covered with a piece of blotting paper, 

 was placed floating in a glass full of water, and on it were placed 

 sixty mustard seeds ; the glass was then placed at the bottom of 

 a cylindrical glass jar, eighteen inches high and four in diameter, 

 coated inside and outside with tin-foil, like an ordinary Leyden 



* Memoiren der Berl. Acad., 1783. 



•j- Rozier, Journal de Physique, 1785, ii. p. 462. 



