o« the Gcrmindtion of Sceis, 159 



Lavoificr, that atmofpheric air contains -W, or -r^o^ lefs 

 bxvgen gas than is (liovvn hy the phofphoric eudiometer, the 

 i^l cubic inches of atmofpheric air, which were loft in this 

 experiment, contained before the peas were introduced 3'64 

 cubic inches of oxygen gas and 9-86 of azotic gas.^ The 

 12*55 '^u'j'c inches which remained after germination con- 

 tained i'255 cubic inches of carbonic acid gas, 1-255 of oxy- 

 gen gas, and 9*86 of azotic gas. 



If tlw; decreafe in the volume of the air during the ger- 

 mination arifes from the carbonic acid cts beino; abforbed 

 by the water, which fhuts the receiver and promotes the ger- 

 mination of the feeds, this decreafe of volume with the oxy- 

 gen gas which remains in the atmofphere of the peas, (hows 

 the quantity of oxygen gas which has been formed in the 

 courfe of the germination. If this quantity of carbonic acid 

 gas is peffeclly equal to that which is formed during the ex- 

 periment by the union of the oxygen gas, which has difap- 

 peared, with the carbon of the feeds, it proves, almoft incon- 

 teftabl.v, that the oxygen of the atmofphere Is not abforbed by 

 the feeds, but has been employed in the formation of car- 

 bonic acid gas, a part of which is abforbed by the water 

 while the other remains in' the atmofphere of the feeds. 



If we add the decreafe of the voluriie of the air during the 

 courfe of the germination, or 0*95 cubic inches to i"255 

 cubic ifjches, the quantity of the carbonic acid gas which 

 remains in the atmofphere of the feeds, we fliall have 2"20_j 

 cubic inches for the fum of the carbonic acid gas. But this 

 is alvnoft the fame quantity as that which is obtained by tl>tf 

 union of the carbon of the feeds with the 2-385 cubic inches 

 of oxygen gas which difappeared in the courfe of the experi- 

 ment. 



It is vcrv probable, therefore, from this experiment, that 

 the decreafe in the volume of the atmofphere during the ger- 

 mination depends merely on the water abforbing a part of 

 the carbonic acid gas, which is formed by the union of the 

 nxvgcii gas with the carbon of the feed?, atid that it cannot 

 be afcribcd to the ebforplion of the oxygen gas by the feeds. 

 To place the truth of this aflertion in its full light, I exa- 

 Hiined whether the decreafe of the atmofphere of the feeds 



would 



