18 TJie Phosphates of America. 



The form in which it is assimilated is that of phosphate, pro- 

 duced by the combination of the acid with various bases. Enor- 

 mous deposits of phosphate, chiefly of phosphate of lime, have 

 been and doubtless will continue to be discovered in every quar- 

 ter of the globe ; and as, besides being so essential to plant life, 

 it is the principal constituent of bones, we have here another 

 proof that if by some extraordinary phenomenon its source were 

 suddenly cut off or exhausted, all vegetable and animal life would 

 cease. 



So far back as the year 1698 a celebrated French engineer 

 (Vauban), writing in the Dime Royal, said : 



" We have for a long time past been universally complaining of 

 the falling off in the quantity and quality of our crops ; our farms 

 are no longer giving us the returns we were accustomed to ; yet 

 few persons are taking the pains to examine into the causes of 

 this diminution, which will become more and more formidable 

 unless proper remedies are discovered and applied." 



This was a warning note, but it was not until after the com- 

 mencement of the present century that the English farmers began to- 

 use crushed bones as a manure, and even then they did so in blind 

 ignorance of the principles to which they owed their virtues, as is 

 clearly shown by an article published by one of the scientific paper* 

 of that day (1830), in which the writer says : 



" We need take into no account the earthy matters or phosphate 

 of lime contained in the bones, because as it is indestructible and 

 insoluble it cannot serve as a manure, even though it is placed in a 

 damp soil with a combination of circumstances analytically stronger 

 than any of the processes known to organic chemistry." 



A subsequent writer upon the same subject declares that 

 " bones, after having undergone a certain process of natural fer- 

 mentation, contain no more than two per cent, of gelatine, and as 

 they derive their fertilizing power from this substance only, they 

 may be considered as having no value as manure." 



That such opinions as these should have prevailed only fifty 

 years ago seems to us all the more preposterous because of the 

 gigantic strides which we have made since then and because of the 

 singular fact that even the Chinese were better informed than our 

 grandfathers, inasmuch as they knew that the fertilizer was a 

 mineral principle, and for many centuries have used burnt bones as 

 manures. 



Despite the unflagging researches of the best men of the time,. 



