PHOSPHORIC ACID. 5 



terrible as to render it difficult for him to retain his imagination on 

 the causes which have produced such great effects. These etfects, 

 so terrifying to the genius of Cuvier, are really only the result of 

 one and the same cause — an efficient cause, which is confirmed under 

 the most diverse conditions, and in all latitudes, with a wonderful 

 unity of design. Only the Sovereign Master of Life and Death 

 could accomplish such wonders. Let us now try to find the 

 amount of phosphoric acid in different media — phosphoric acid in 

 the soil, in plants and animals. About the time when British agro- 

 nomists 1 were exploring the deposits of phosphate of lime of Estra- 

 madura, it was discovered, in Surrey, that the use of ground bones, 

 and other bodies rich in phosphoric acid, produced no beneficial re- 

 sult when applied to soils, fertile enough in themselves, the subsoil 

 of which belonged to certain deposits of the lower and upper Green- 

 sand. This led to the supposition that phosphate of lime, which is 

 one of the fertilizing constituents of ground bones, is naturally pre- 

 sent in these soils in sufficient proportion. Mr. J. C. Nesbit, an 

 expert chemist, immediately collected the soils and rocks of these 

 districts so as to ascertain the cause of their fertility. Amongst 

 others, he received from Farnham samples of a fertile marl, situated 

 on the property of Mr. J. M. Paine. A rapid examination showed 

 the presence, in this marl, of an unusual amount of phosphoric acid, 

 and in November, 1847, he informed Mr. Paine of this discovery.^ 

 From this marl 28 per cent of phosphoric acid, corresponding to 

 60-67 of phosphate of lime, was extracted. The general mass of 

 the marl contained 2 to 3 per cent of phosphoric acid, equal to 4-33 

 to 6-5 per cent of phosphate. It will be seen that in presence of 

 such a proportion of phosphoric acid the application of phosphatic 

 manures was quite superfluous. In the Tchermo Sem, so fertile in 

 Russia, where from time immemorial the highest yields of wheat 

 have been obtained w.thout any manure, 0*6 per cent of phosphoric 

 acid is present, whilst mediocre soils only contain 0*1 ; fertile soils, 

 0-2 to 0-5 ; very fertile soils, 0-8 and upwards. Regarded by them- 

 selves these figures are very small, but applied to a given surface, 

 are considerable. A hectare of arable land, say 2 '5 acres, with a 

 depth of 0-2 metre, say 10 in., w^eighs 5000 tons, say 2000 tons per 

 acre, and if such soil contains 0*6 per cent of phosphoric acid that 



^ This very evidently refers to Dr. Daubeny, who inspected and reported on 

 these deposits (Estramadura) in 1843. His report is given in the " Journal of 

 the Royal Agricultural Society of England,'^ Vol- V, Part II.— Tr. 



2But Mr. Paine himself, in conjunction with Professor Way, the then chemist 

 of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, in 1848 published the results of 

 their then combined elaborate researches on the phosphoric strata of the chalk 

 formation in a paper in the " Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of Eng- 

 land," Vol. IX, Part I, pp. 56-84. The reader is referred to this memoir : suffice 

 it to mention here that the marl contains nodules much richer in phosphate of 

 lime than the marl in which they are diffused. — Tp. 



