A 



COURSE OF LECTURES, 



LECTURE I. 



Introduction. General Views of the Objects of the Course, 

 and of the order in which they are to be discussed. 



It is with great pleasure that I receive the permis- 

 sion to address so distinguished and enlightened an 

 Audience on the subject of Agricultural Chemistry. 



That any thing which I am able to bring forward, 

 should be thought worthy the attention of the Board 

 of Agriculture, I consider as an honour; and I shall 

 endeavour to prove my gratitude, by employing every 

 exertion to illustrate this department of knowledge, 

 and to point out its uses. 



In attempting these objects, the peculiar state of 

 the enquiry presents many difficulties to a Lecturer. 

 Agricultural Chemistry has not yet received a regular 

 and systematic form. It has been pursued by compe- 

 tent experimenters for a short time only; the doctrines 

 have not as yet been collected into any elementary trea- 

 tise; and on an occasion when I am obliged ,to trust 

 so much to my own arrangements, and to my own 



