Iviii REPORT — 1856. 



suggestions : I may refer to the substitution of mineral phosphates for bones, 

 founded upon his explanation of the sources from which the latter substance 

 derives its efficacy as a manure : and 1 may allude more especially to his 

 refutation of the humus theory, to which even the great Saussure gave his 

 adhesion, and the reception of which was calculated to vitiate, not a few pro- 

 cesses only, but the entire system of our husbandry. 



But whilst we do justice to those comprehensive views on agricultural 

 science which have shed a new lustre upon the name of Liebig, let us not 

 forget the practical researches which have been carried on in our own 

 country ; and especially those conducted under the auspices of the Highland 

 Society by Dr. Anderson ; at our own Agricultural College by Prof. Voelcker; 

 and, through the aid of the lloyal Agricultural Society, by their consulting 

 chemist, Mr. Way. And, although in alluding to the labours of the latter, we 

 may be bound to confess, that in one of the latest and probably the most 

 important investigations undertaken by him, that namely on the absorptive 

 qualities of clay with reference to ammouiacal salts, he had been anticipated, 

 so far as the principle goes, by the German Professor, who announced the 

 fact many years before in his work ' On Chemistry applied to Agriculture*,' 

 yet experience has often shown that a principle may lie dormant long after 

 it was enunciated, until its truth is rendered palpable to the senses by a 

 series of practical researches expressly directed with a view to demonstrate 

 its general applicability. 



Baron Liebig has himself remarked, that as a plant, in order to thrive, 

 must receive its i'ood, not in a concentrated form, but reduced to a certain 

 state of tenuity by being diffused through water; so an abstract truth only 

 makes an impression upon the mind and feelings, when presented to it 

 properly diluted, turned, as it were, inside out, examined under every 

 aspect, and decked out with all the accompaniments of dress, ornament, and 

 colour. 



Then, indeed, as the seed, when implanted in the ground and taken root, 

 is able to cleave asunder the hardest rocks, and that, as the ohl proverb says, 

 all without noise ; so likewise the truth will at length in its own good time 

 begin to germinate, and gradually conquering all obstacles, establish lor itself 

 a footing in the mind of the public. Let us not therefore withhold our meed 

 of approbation from those who have worked out for us any useful scientific 

 principle, even though the germ may be traceable to some other quarter ; 

 conscious that it is to its being brought thus prominently forward, and, as 

 it were, forced upon the attention of the public, that we owe its general 

 reception and its reduction to practice. 



But it is time to hasten on to certain other departments of Natural Science. 



In Botany and Vegetable Physiology it cannot perhaps be said, that whole 

 provinces have been added to the domain of the Science since the period 

 alluded to, as we have seen to be the case in our review of the progress of 

 chemistry. 



Even so long ago as the year 18S2, the elder DeCandolle, who, if not the 

 most original or the most profound of the botanists of his day, was at least 

 the most conspicuous for the wide range of his information, and for his 

 happy talent of imparting it to others, published that admirable work on 

 vegetable physiology, which even at the present time is capable of serving 

 as a most useful guide in many branches of the subject. 



And yet what a mass of important information has been brought together 

 since that period I 



* P. 57, Eng. Trans. 



