NEW PUBLICATIONS. 277 



this process takes place above ground. And is all this amount of 

 vegetable food of no use till it escapes and mingles with the atmo- 

 sphere ? We can not believe it. That a seed will germinate and 

 grow in a soil utterly destitute of organic matter, experiments prove 

 beyond a question ; but will they attain perfection ? On the contrary, 

 they soon die, and no soil is productive which does not contain a 

 considerable proportion of organic matter. 



Do plants obtain their other organic constituents from the atmo- 

 sphere ? The same reasoning will hold good in respect to these, 

 as in the case of carbon. But our space will not allow us to go into 

 a lengthy discussion of these points. The reader is referred to the 

 various works on these subjects. How the atmosphere is the great 

 storehouse of animal food, we confess ourself utterly at a loss to 

 understand. Any thing stored up there, we apprehend, would be 

 light food for man or beast, unless the line be true we wot of when 

 a boy about the chameleon : 



" I saw it eat the air for food." 



Our author carries out the same idea farther, on the same page, 

 where he says that "about 97 per cent of the solid structure of all 

 cultivated plants, and animals, except their bones, is derived from 

 air and water." In this he includes the carbon, which constitutes 

 from 40 to 50 per cent of plants. But setting this aside, as, to say 

 the least, a doubtful matter, we must reject also the water which 

 escapes whilst plants are drying ; and, what is the fact ? Johnston 

 says the ash of vegetable productions varies from 1 to 12 per cent 

 of their weight ; and according to Sprengel, 100 lbs. of the following 

 slants, when dried in the air, left of ash. 



Turnip - - - 705 lbs. Lucerne - - . - 9-55 lbs. 



Carrot - - - 509 Red clover - - - 748 



Leaf of do, - - 10-42 White do. - - - 9l3 



Parsnip - - - 19-76 Rye grass - - - 530 



Cabbage - - - 755 



" About 97 per cent" ought to have a wide range, to include these 

 md numbers of other vegetable products. Mr. L. unfortunately in- 

 cludes animals in both of the above extracts. With regard to them, 

 he fact is by no means evident, and we think is without foundation. 

 That there is an abundant supply of carbon in the air for the pur- 

 )oses of vegetable nutrition, is true, but is it used as he thinks ? 



But he proceeds to show how this carbon, floating in the atmo- 



