20G Notict'S of Recent and 



M 



nish the material of vegetable substance, altliougli Jiilnute poilioiis 

 are occasionally couveyed into the vegetable system, by the all per- 

 vading agency of water, yet the co-operation of the earth is indis- 

 pensable J it supports the plant in Its place, shelters the roots, and 

 adapts their position to receive the necessary aliment, mingles with, 

 and tempers the viscous quality of manure, and finally, keeping back 

 the rigid matters while the Avater passes through the necessary in- 

 gredients, yields it to the roots filtered and refined, and laden with 

 the elements of vegetable life. 



Hydrogen, one of the constituents of water, enters into a chemical 



r 



combination with parts of the plants, and becomes Identified with 

 the solid tissue. It enters largely iuto resins and gums* The re- 

 maining portion of water not evaj)orated, retains its liquid form, and 



appears in the s^, and in the juices of leaves and fruit- Nitrogen, 

 another gaseous material, obtained chiefly from animal decomposi- 

 tions, enters in small portions into the composition of some vegetables 

 occasioning, during their spontaneous decomposition, a strong disa- 

 greeable odor, of which cabbage and mushrooms are examples. 



Tlie alkalies, acids, and earths, have their appropriate use in mod- 

 ifying the consistency, flavors, odors and colors of vegetables, as they 

 are variously elaborated and combined. 



The fibrous tissue of leaves is of a yellowish white. M. Scnne- 

 bler considers the native color of carbon to be not black, but blue. Tills, 

 when deposited in the yellow substance of the leaf, and subjected to 

 the action of light, causes the beautiful hues of green which over- 

 spread the earth. The more carbon and the stronger the light, the 

 harder the leaf and the deeper the tinge ; less carbon allows more 

 water, hence a softer leaf and lighter color, rendered still paler by 

 -tshade. The color of carbon is doubtless changed by chemical agen- 

 cies, In the wood, bark and flowers. But although this, and the in- 

 fluence of electricity, with many other interesting facts in the physi- 

 ology of vegetables, have engaged the attention of naturalists, suffi- 



cient insight has not been obtained to establish conclusive opinions 

 Perhaps they are beyond the limit of human inquiry, and are refer- 

 able to those operations, where "the mysterious principle of life" acts 

 its important part- 



8. The JVatiiral, Statistical, and Civil History of the Slate of 

 JVew Yorky m three Voluracs^ 8vo. by James MacAuley. New 

 York, Gould U Banks, and Wm. Gould &: Co. (Communicated.) 



