126 Memdir upon Guano. 



is partly decomposed in the system, imparts its oxygen to itj 

 and that, perhaps, to a degree capable of annuIHng or de- 

 stroying its properties as an acid ? 



And it may be here further remarked, in confirmation of 

 such notion, that those gentlemen most conversant with it 

 here, as well as most capable of judging, entertain strong 

 doubts of its supposed diuretic effects, allowance being made 

 for the necessary quantity of its watery vehicle. If it be, 

 then, truly deoxygenated in the system, why be deterred by 

 its failure, d.s a radical cure of siphylis, from extending our 

 trials with it here, to other chronic diseases, as they have 

 already done in India? 



XXL Extract of a Memoir of Messrs. FguRcroy and 

 Vauquelin upon Guano, the natural Manure of the 

 South Sea Islands near the Coast of Peru. Read before 

 the National histitute. Dratvn j/.p hy A. Laugier *, 



Among the vast number of objects worthy of the attention 

 of naturalists which M.Humboldt has observed and col- 

 lected during his late travels, guano is one of the greatest im- 

 portance. In making us acquainted with this singular sub- 

 stance, one of the principal resources of agriculture in the 

 countries he has visited, this celebrated naturalist has fur- 

 nished the authors of this memoir with an opportunity of 

 confirming a discovery which they had made at the very 

 moment of M. Humboldt's return. The perusal of their 

 memoir upon the existence of uric acid in the excrement of 

 birds, created the idea in Humboldt that the guano, found in 

 the islands on the coast of Peru frequented by a great num- 

 ber of birds, might be of the same description. It belongs 

 to chemistry alone to decide the degree of credit to which 

 this conjecture is entitled. Messrs. Fourcroy and Vauquelin 

 have undertaken the examination of this substance, and we 

 purpose laying before our readers the results of their labours 

 as inserted in the Memoirs of the National Institute. 



• From Annates de Chimin, vol. Ivi. p. 258. 



Before 



