278 QUARTERLY JOURNAL. 



sphere, may be seized and converted into " wheat, butter, cheese 

 and pork." 



" Gentlemen, I have in this glass water taken from a well near my 

 residence in this city, such as is used by my family and others. 

 You see it is quite clear, though I suppose it holds in solution, 

 among other earthy ingredients, a portion of lime. I will now 

 breathe into this water, and see what, if any, effect will be produced. 

 You see the water is changed into a milky whiteness," Page 428. 



When we first read this, we could hardly believe our eyes. It is 

 a common experiment to dissolve quicklime in water, and breathe 

 through it, to show the production of carbonate of lime by the union 

 of the carbonic acid of the breath with the dissolved lime ; but that 

 the water of wells ever contains a solution of pure lime, we were 

 ignorant. The water of wells and springs often contains the muriate, 

 sulphate and carbonate of lime, constituting what is called hard 

 water, but the breath could not have any effect upon these to pro- 

 duce the " milky whiteness," Whence then came the lime in this 

 well ? We can not believe for a moment that Mr. Lee was practising 

 a piece of jugglery upon his audience, nor can we account for the 

 source of the lime, having never seen nor heard of a case of the 

 kind. But he accounts for it, by saying, that when in the state of a 

 carbonate, it was decomposed by the action of the living and growing 

 plant (page 429), and dissolved by rain water, and then carried down 

 through the earth to the well from whence it was taken. Yet he 

 says more, that after this decomposition, " the free lime whose car- 

 bon has gone to build up a vegetable, takes up another, and still 

 another portion of carbonic acid." Of course, when it reaches the 

 well it will be a carbonate, or some higher compound of lime. As 

 to this decomposition, and the appropriation of the carbon to the 

 nourishment of plants, we can only say it is a new theory to us of 

 Ihe action of lime. 



" At night, plants consume no food, or very little, but digest what 

 they imbibe during the day" (page 429). We had always under- 

 stood the fact to be directly the opposite, that the light of the sun 

 was the great agent in carrying on, or at least assisting the diges- 

 tive functions of plants. During the day, they absorb carbonic acid 

 and give off oxygen, the carbon being separated by the chemical 

 action of light ; at night, the carbonic acid is given off unchanged. 

 The same is found to be the case when plants are excluded from 



