The Phosphates of America. 25 



excellent results ; in another portion, owing to different constitution 

 of the soil, they will remain insoluble and the result will be nil. 



In England and in some parts of Germany it is still the cus- 

 tom, as we shall show later on, to base the commercial value of a 

 manufactured phosphatic material almost entirely upon its per- 

 centage of phosphoric acid soluble in cold water, and to allow 

 little or nothing for that which may exist in the " reverted " or 

 water-insoluble form. As shown by our experiments and demon- 

 strated by our practice in this country, however, the latter is 

 entirely assimilable by plants, and should therefore have a com- 

 mercial value approximately equal to that of the water-soluble 

 phosphate. 



Neither English nor German chemists worthy of that name 

 attempt to deny this fact, but they appear to be in advance of the 

 philosophy of their lay contemporaries and have not yet acquired 

 sufficient power to stamp out prejudice and imposition. 



All newly discovered truths, when first communicated to an 

 unprepared society, are first denounced and then put aside and for- 

 gotten by the vast majority ; but by and by, when a generation or 

 two have passed away, we see those very truths, so long considered 

 as without the pale of human possibilities, insensibly come to be 

 looked upon as commonplaces which even the dullest intellects 

 wonder how we could ever have denied. 



Men may come and men may go, but science remains behind. 

 It sustains the shock of empires, outlives the struggles of rival 

 theories and creeds, and, built upon a rock, must stand forever. 



How, then, can we expect the farmers to perpetually remain in 

 ignorance or darkness on this question, when we know that they 

 are becoming less and less able to restore to their soils, in any other 

 form than that of phosphate of lime the phosphoric acid taken 

 from them year by year with their crops ? 



Nothing can stem the demand for artificial manures ; it will go 

 on increasing with such steadiness and rapidity that the visible 

 sources of supply will soon become inadequate. Especially is this 

 true of phosphates of lime, and the recognition of this fact by 

 those engaged in the fertilizer industry explains the eagerness with 

 which fresh deposits of the material are being sought for all the 

 world over. 



The vast workable deposits of the American continent are just 

 at this moment the centres of attraction, and it will therefore be 

 interesting to a large section of the public to know something 



