186 TRANSACTIONS AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE [Sess, uxx, 
MEETING OF THE SOCIETY, 
March 8, 1906. 
Professor BayLey Batrour, F.R.S., President, in the Chair. 
Before proceeding to the business of the evening, the 
PRESIDENT called attention to the occurrence amongst the 
books presented to the Society of the “Report of the 
Agricultural Research Association,” which contained a paper 
by Mr. Jamieson. Attached to the paper was an intimation 
that its author would be glad to have comments upon it, and, 
with their permission, the President took the opportunity to 
refer to the paper, for its subject was of the greatest moment 
to agriculturists. He said :— 
The point of the paper is, that the nitrogen of the air is 
directly absorbed and fixed as albumen by green plants, 
Now, atmospheric free nitrogen is an evident possible source, 
and was formerly supposed to be the source, but careful 
experiments during the last century have given negative 
results, and these hold up to the present. In the later years 
of last century, however, the power of certain bacteria in 
the soil to bring free nitrogen of the air into combination 
was recognised, and thus indirectly the nitrogen of the 
atmosphere is made avuilable for green plants. Although 
there is much to be learned about these soil bacteria, that 
they fix free nitrogen is an established fact. At the same 
time, all recent assertions which extend this power of fixation 
of free nitrogen to alge, and then to all green plants, have 
failed to stand the test of scientific criticism and experiment. 
Mr. Jamieson now comes forward and maintains the 
view that, after all, green plants do absorb and fix free 
nitrogen. Accepting as proved the discredited statement 
that alge fixed free nitrogen, he assumes that the green 
colouring matter (chlorophyll) has something to do with the 
fixation, and disposing of the known fact of the nitrogen- 
fixing power of certain bacteria by saying that it is 
reasonable to suppose that bacteria cannot fix free nitrogen, 
as they are colourless and parasitic, he then assumes that 
fixation by ordinary green plants takes place. 
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