464 



THE FAUMEll!^' REGISTER. 



with corn and cattle; and this exportation takes place | rain and snow water lo bn one-lourlh of a ^nnm 



eveiy year, without the .smallest compensation ; yet 

 after a given number of years, tiie quantity of nitro- 

 gen will be found to have increased. Whence, we 

 may ask, comes this increase of nitrogen .' The ni- 

 trogen in the excrements cannot reproduce itself, and 

 the earth cannot yield it. Plants, and consequently 

 animals, must, therefore, derive their nitrogen from 

 the atmosphere. 



"The last products of the decay and putrefaction of 

 animal bodies present themselves in two ditlerent 

 forms. They aie in the form of a combination of 

 hydrogen and nitrogen, ammonia, in the temperate 

 and cold climates, and in that of a compound, contain- 

 ing oxygen, nitric acid, in the tropics and hot climates. 

 The formation of the latter is preceded by the pro- 

 duction of the first. Ammonia is the last product of 

 the putrefaction of animal bodies ; nitric acid is the 

 product of the transformation of ammonia. A gene- 

 ration of a thousand million men is renewed every 

 thirty years : thousands of millions of animals cease 

 to live, and are reproduced in a much shorter period. 

 Where is the nitrogen which they contained during 

 life ? There is no question which can be answered 

 with more jiositive certainty. All animal bodies, du- 

 ring their decay, yield the nitrogen which they con 



to the pound ol water; and then, by arithmetical 

 calculaiioii, (lounded on the annual f]uantny of 

 rain,) he deduces thai 6-5 Hessian [)Ounds of arn- 

 tiionia would tie ihe annual sup|)ly lo the Hessian 

 acre ; which quantities, reduced to American 

 weighi and measure, are equal to 116 pounds of 

 ammonia to the acre, derived solely from the at- 

 mosphere. This would furnish more nitrogen 

 than a crop on the same land of wood, hay, or 

 beets, but less than would he coi.tained in the 

 roots, straw and grain ofa crop of wheat, (p. 132.) 

 This is a most imporiant fact — and is siill so, 

 even if the quantity of ammonia thus siifiplied to 

 Ihe soil tie reduced to less ihnn half of Liebiur's 

 estimate, as ia done upon the authority of other 

 chemical experiments, as is staled in ihe June 

 numtier of the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, 

 by an intelligent writer and chemist. Ujion either 

 Supposition, it is a bountilul additional supply, 

 I'rom loreign sources and materials, of hiiihly (er- 

 tilizi.ng princij les, to every cultivator; and who, 

 at the same time, may by proper care prevent the 



tain to the atmosphere, in the form of ammonia. Even escape of ammonia from the materials on his own 



in the bodies buried sixty feet under ground in the 

 churchyard of the Eglise des Innocens, at Paris, ?11 

 the nitrogen contained in the adipocire was in the 

 state of ammonia. Ammonia is the simplest of all 

 the compounds of nitrogen ; and hydrogen is the ele- 

 ment for which nitrogen possesses the most powerful 

 affinity. 



"Tlie nitrogen of putrefied animals is contained in 

 the atmosphere as ammonia, in the form of a gas 

 which is capable of entering into combination with 

 carbonic acid, and of forming a volatile salt. Ammo- 

 nia in its gaseous form as well as all its volatile com- 

 pounds is of extreme solubility in water.* Ammo- 

 nia, therefore, cannot remain long in the atmosphere, 

 as every shower of rain must condense it, and convey 

 it to the surface of tfie earth. Hence, also, rain-wa- 

 ter must, at all times, contain ammonia, though not 

 always in equal quaniity. It must be greater in sum- 

 mer than in spring or in winter, because the intervals 

 of time between the showers are in summer greater; 

 and when several wet days occur, the rain of the first 

 must contain more of it than that of the second. The 

 rain of a thunder storm, after a long protracted drought, 

 ought for this reason to contain the greatest quantity, 

 which is conveyed to the earth at one time." — (pp. 

 128, 130.) 



And here let us observe the remarkable con- 

 trast presented by the two principal new positions 

 of the author, in regard to two of the most im- 

 portant supplies of this material to plants. Nitro- 

 gen, which, as part of the atmosphere, surrounds a 

 plant always, and is present in the greatest ima- 

 ginable profusion, cannot enter its body directly, 

 or even indirectly (in the form of ammonia) ex- 

 cept from the soil and through the roots. On the 

 contrary, the humus, or decayed vegetable matter 

 or putrescent manure, in the soil, as Liebig main- 

 tains, furnishes only carbonic acid to plants, and 

 that almost exclusively through the atmosphere 

 and by way of the leaves. 



Though chemists have not been able to detect 

 ammonia in atmospheric air, because of the very 

 small proportion, it is found with certainly when 

 collected from the atmosphere by the descent of 

 rain and snow and therein condensed. Liebig 

 estimates the usual proportion of ammonia in 



* " According to Dr. Thomson, water absorbs 780 

 times its bulk of ammonia." 



larm into the general atmosphere. 



" It is worthy of observation, that the ammonia 

 contained in rain and snow water, possessed an offen- 

 sive smell of perspiration and animal excrements, — 

 a fact which leaves no doubt respecting its origin." — 

 (p. 13.3.) 



"Anyone may satisfy himself of the presence of 

 ammonia in rain, by simply adding a little sulphuric 

 or muriatic acid to a quantity of rain-water, and 

 evaporating this nearly to dryness in a clean porcelain 

 basin. The ammonia remains in the residue, in com- 

 bination with the acid employed ; and may be detect- 

 ed either by the addition of a little chloride of plati- 

 num, or more simply by a little powdered lime, which 

 separates the ammonia, ami thus renders its peculiar 

 pungent smell sensible. The sensation which is per- 

 ceived upon moistening the hand with rain-water, so 

 different from that produced by pure distilled water, 

 and to which the term softness is vulgarly applied, is 

 also due to the carbonate of ammonia contained in the 

 former. 



" The ammonia, which is removed from the atmo- 

 sphere by rain and other causes, is as constantly re- 

 placed by the putrefaction of animal and vegetable 

 matters. A certain portion of that which falls with 

 the rain, evaporates again with the water ; but another 

 portion is, we suppose, taken up by the roots of plants, 

 and, entering into new combinations in the different 

 organs of assimilation, produces albumen, gluten, 

 quinine, morphia, cyanogen, and a number of other 

 compounds containing: nitrogen." — (pp. 133-4.) 



Carbonic acid gas, which also is always dif- 

 fused through the atmosphere, is readily absorbed 

 by water; and hence all rain water contains car- 

 bonic acid, which of course must unite, according 

 to its quantity, with the ammonia present therein. 

 This would furnisii to the soil and to plants car- 

 bonate of ammonia, which is a very volatile solid, 

 dissolved, instead of pure ammoni.i, a gas absorb- 

 ed and temporarily condensed by water. How- 

 ever, if growing plants were ready to take up Ihe 

 supply of either as last as Itirnished by rains, the 

 ultimate result would probably not, be affected by 

 the different conditions of the ammonia. But, if 

 no plants were ready to receive the supply, we 

 infer that much the greater part, in either case, 

 would be lost by evaporation and going ofl into 

 the atmosphere. 



