153 • The EffcBs of Qu'tdfii'ver 6n Vcgdahle Lifa 

 nitrous acid which had been waflied firft with ait alcaVrnrt ■ 

 folutioii and then with pure water, the root;> being iimnerltd 

 in the oxyd. 



XII. The fame as the Tecond, witli this variation ; that 

 ihftead of quickfilver the oxyd was ufed. 



XIII. Beans were planted in a mixture of earth and the 

 red oxyd of quickfilver. 



XI\', The fame planted in earth mixed with the oxyd ot 

 lead. 



XV. of three phmts of the curled mint, one was placed, 

 in the fame manner as in the nth experiment, in a phial 

 which contained water and the oxyd of manganefe; the fecond 

 in another, containing water and the oxyd of copper ; and 

 the third iu one containing water and the oxyd of lead. 



The leaves and ftcms in the experiments i, 2, 3, 4, and 5, 

 were on the third day covered with black. fjx)ts ; and on the 

 fourth, fifth, and at moft the lixlh, had become entirely 

 black. Tlu- young tree in the 5th experiment could not 

 hold out the whole fummer, though it flood connected with 

 the parent plant. ' The plants died fo completely that the 

 leaves frequently dropped otf, and the ftem funk down the 

 very moment the bell \\ as removed. The plants in the 6th 

 experiment remained without any change, which fliews tha^ 

 fulphur prevents the bad effects of the quickfilver. In the 

 7th experiment the effe^'t of the quickfilver was deftroyed, 

 on account of the water by which it was covered. 



The experiments 8, 9, and 10, prove that the quickiilver, 

 when mixed with earth or water, or when itftands in contact, 

 with the roots of plants, is in no manner prejudicial to them^ 



The lith experiment, which we repeated fevcrai times, 

 fliewed us that the oxvd of quickfilver, placed in contact 

 with the roots of a plant, is deftru^livc to it. This oxyd, 

 however, did not produce the fame effeiSl when it was placed 

 as the metallic quickfilver, near to the plant ; as was proved 

 by the 12th experiment, in which the planl did not exper 

 riencc the Icali uhanee. 



