NATURAL SCIENCES. 



403 



eneee, lives Gaston Sacaze, whose nsime bas 

 beeu well knowu for the last twelve years to 

 philosophical travelers in those parts. Without 

 even quittins his native mountain, or neglecting 

 the care ot" his flock and the cultivation of his 

 fields, he has found sufficient time to acquire a 

 good systematic knowledge of tlie Mineralogy, 

 Botany, and Entomology of his native district, 

 entirely unassisted by any teacher except his 

 own eyes and a few books. That he might read 

 the works of Linnaeus, he has taught himself 

 Latin. Besides .systematically classifying all the 

 mountain plants, he has drawn and colored 

 t!~.cm. BO as to form a rich herbal. At his hum- 

 ble home he has also formed a collection of min- i 

 erals. stones, insects. &c. ; and. when tending 

 his flock, he amuses himself with a violin of his 

 ovm constructing, and songs of his own com- 

 posing. So much notice have his talents at- 

 tracted, that his portrait has lately been taken 

 by the celebrated painter. Deveria. This peas- 

 ant naturalist calls to miud die instance of John 

 Bertram, tlie famous Pennsylvanian botanist, I 

 wlio was originally an agricultural laborer, but 

 having his intellectual curiosity excited by an 

 attentive contemplation of a \-iolet. and then 

 dreaming about its beauty and structure, imme- 

 diately set about learning all the Latin that was 

 requisite to read botanical works. 



Great Britain abounds ia gnunmar^hools for 

 tlie poor, but where can it show anything like 

 the forest schools of Switzerland, Sweden, and 

 Germany ? Where are tlie instructors to teach 

 our pea-santry those sciences which they would 

 be praclicaUy benefited by understanding 1 — 

 We want to see a full consummation of the be- 

 nevolent wish of Dr. Drammond, that a lecture- 

 room, a museum, and a useful librarj- should be 

 attached to every villase, as regularly as its 

 church or chapel ; and that a portion of time 

 should be appropriated to teaching Natural His- 

 tory, and even Natural Theology, to the peas- 

 antry*. Gcoloe^i" and Aarricultural Chemistry 

 should also be maiie to throw their lisht upon 

 the laborer s mind, and his children should be 

 taught sometliing about these subjects, as well 

 as grammar and ciphering. Agriculture would 

 more rapidly attain to perfection, if all. without 

 exception, who are concerned in it. were made ; 

 clearly to understand tlie processes on which 

 its fullest success depends. The laborer could 

 not fail to become more skillful and more inter- 

 ested in his emplo\Tnent. if he were taught to 

 practice it as a science, and not merely as a toil. 



The culture of plants will become a compara- 

 tively easy process when we are better ac- 

 quainted with their peculiar function.*, and with 

 the chemical elements which they require for 

 tlieir growth and maturation. We must not be 

 content with knowing what are their respective 

 natural localities, climates, and season.s, but 

 must learn what chemical gases each species 

 imbibes from the atmosphere, tlirough its leaves, 

 and what substances from the soil, through its 

 roots. '■ If a plant be distinguished by its con- 

 taining a notable proportion of soda, silica, ice. 

 the soil in which it is to be grown must," as a 

 writer in tlie Edinburgh Journal justly ob- 

 serves. '■ contain these elements, otherwise the 

 attempt will be abortive;" for a plant can no 

 more create soda or silica within itself than it 

 can form water for its support, independent of i 

 the soil or atmosphere. From a knowledso of \ 

 the principles, therefore, a rational theory of 

 Agriculture may be formed ; and what has hith- 

 erto been little better tlian an expensive and 



often distressing system of trial and error, be- 

 comes a science guided by fixed laws. Agri- 

 culture wiU always have to contend with the 

 fluctuations of season and climate : but it is for 

 human ingenuity to modify their influence, and 

 this can only be effected by rational and scien- 

 tific procedure. As yet the science of Agricul- 

 ture is only in its infancy : but the time "is not 

 far distant when it will rank with other maturer 

 branches of knowledge — when everv soil will 

 be systematically treated for the species of crop 

 to be raised upon it — when manures will be 

 manufactured as we now manufacture soda and 

 sulphuric acid — when plants wiU be fed and 

 stimulated as we now treat animals — in short, 

 when the farmer will sow and reap with as 

 much security as the distiller produces his spirit 

 The value of the science of Chemistry to the 

 agriculturist may be judged from the fact that, 

 when the great French chemist, Lavoisier, took 

 a quantity of land into his own cultivation, he 

 verj- soon succeeded in doubling its produce. 



If tlie proprietor of land would explore its 

 mineral productions with a view^ to speculation 

 ia them, he ought previously to obtain some 

 knowledge of Geology. To an ienorance of 

 this subject may be traced the lavish expendi- 

 ture of money in many futile attempts to fiad 

 coal in situations where the sL'ghtest regard to 

 die principles that have been established, and 

 the rules that have been discovered, relative to 

 the association of coal with certaiH stratified 

 rock.*, would have saved those individuals from 

 ruin and misery. As a strikin? example of the 

 serious consequences that have ensued from 

 seekin? coal without acdne- under the guidance 

 of geological principles. Sir John Herschel re- 

 lates that an attempt was made, not many years 

 since, to establish a colliery at Bexhill.in Sus- 

 sex — the appearance of diin seams and sheets 

 of fossil wood and wood coal, with some other 

 indications similar to what occur in the neieh- 

 borhood of the great coal beds in the north of 

 England. ha%-ing led to the sinking of a shaft, 

 and the erection of machinery on a scale of vast 

 expen.se. Not less than £^00.000 are said to 

 have been expended in this project which, it is 

 almost needless to add. proved completelv abor- 

 tive, as everj- geologist would at once have de- 

 clared it must — the whole assemblage of eeolo- 

 srical facts being adverse to die existence of a 

 res^lar coal bed in die Hastings strata: while 

 this, on which BexhUl is situated, is soparalei 

 from die coal measures by a series of interposed 

 beds, of such enormous thickness as to render 

 all idea of jjeneirating through them absuril.— 

 The history of minin? operations is full oi simi- 

 lar cases, where a very moderate acquaintance 

 with die u.«ual order of Nature, to say nothin? 

 of theoretical views, would have saved many s 

 sanguine adventurer ftova utter ruin. 



In learning the nature of the underlyins soils, 

 and the character of the surface soil" which in 

 many instances depends upon the decomposi- 

 tion of the subterraneous strata. Geolors- affords 

 most valuable assistance. From the mere de- 

 scription of the character of any line of country, 

 the geological asricnlturist might form a tolera- 

 bly accurate notion as to what must bo the pro- 

 ductions, pursuits, wants, and even the general 

 constitutions of the inhabitants; and. if he pos- 

 sessed a knowledge of Geological Botany and 

 Geological Entomology, he would also be able 

 to predict what cenera of plants and insects 

 were there most plentiful. Geology could point 

 out to him stores of lime and mineral manure ia 



