360 M. Dumas on the Chemical Stalks of Organized Beings. 



it nestles in the heath-clad mountains of at least the more 

 northern parts of the island*, and from its occurrence to me 

 in such localities in mid-winter, I am disposed to believe that 

 severity of weather only drives it from such haunts. It is di- 

 stinguished in the north of Ireland from the other linnets {Li- 

 nariae) by the name of " Heather-grey." A friend frequently 

 before alluded to, remarks that he has seen these birds every 

 winter for some years past in large flocks about Clough, in the 

 county of Antrim, where they chiefly frequent the stubble-fields 

 in the neighbourhood of the mountains. A person conversant 

 with this species states, that he has frequently had its nests 

 among heath on the top of the Knockagh, a mountain near 

 Carrickfergus : in this plant they were generally placed, but 

 in some instances were built in dwarfed whins which grew amid 

 the heath. A venerable sporting friend has always met with 

 these birds about their nests (which he remarks were placed 

 in " tufts of heather") when breaking his dogs on the Belfast 

 mountains preparatory to grouse-shooting. From the county 

 of Fermanagh I have had specimens of this bird. Mr. R. Ball 

 includes it among the species found in the neighbourhood of 

 Dublin. 



[To be contiinied. J 



XLVII. — Extracts from a Lecture by M. Dumas on the Che- 

 mical Statics of Organized Beings^. 



If, in the dark, plants act as simple filters which water 

 and gases pass through; if, under the influence of solar light 

 they act as reducing apparatus which decompose water, car- 

 bonic acid and oxide of ammonium, there are certain epochs 

 and certain organs in which the plant assumes another, and 

 altogether opposite part. 



Thus, if an embryo is to be made to germinate, a bud to be 

 unfolded, a flower to be fecundated, the plant which absorbed 

 the solar heat, which decomposed carbonic acid and water, all 

 at once changes its course. It burns carbon and hydrogen ; 

 it produces heat, that is to say, it takes to itself the principal 

 characters of animal life. 



But here a remarkable circumstance reveals itself. If barley 

 or wheat is made to germinate, much heat, carbonic acid and 

 water are produced. The starch of these grains first changes 

 into gum, then into sugar, then it disappears in producing 

 carbonic acid, which the germ is to assimilate. Does a potato 



* Since the above was written, Mr. R. Davis, jun., of Clonmel, has in- 

 formed me that it is common and breeds in tlie county of Tipperary. 



t The lecture from which these arc extracts has appeared in tiie Philo- 

 sophical Magazine for November and December 1811. 



