ANA 



ANB 



5th. Their disposition to contract 

 while drying ; 6th. Their hygrometric 

 force ; 7th. Their power of absorbing 

 oxygen ; 8th. Their faculty of retain- 

 ing heat ; and, 9th. Their capacity to 

 acquire temperature when exposed 

 to the sun's rays. 



Specific Gravity of Soils. — The 

 weight of soils may be compared in 

 the dry and pulverulent state, or in 

 the humid state ; or the specific grav- 

 ity of the particles which enter into 

 their composition may be determined. 

 This last information is easily obtain- 

 ed by the following method : Take 

 a common ground stopper bottle ; 

 weigh it, stoppered and full of distil- 

 led wafer ; let it then be emptied, in 

 order that a known quantity of the 

 soil, in the state of powder and quite 

 dry, may be introduced into it. A 

 quantity of water is now poured in, 

 and the vial is shaken to secure the 

 disengagement of all air bubbles ; the 

 vial is then filled with distilled water, 

 and, when the upper part has become 

 clear, the stopper is replaced ; the 

 vial is then wiped dry and weighed 

 again. The difference between the 

 weight of the vial full of water plus 

 that of the matter, and the weight of 

 the vial containing the matter and 

 the water mixed, gives the weight of 

 the water displaced by this matter. 

 Thus : 



Weight of the vial full of water . . . 60'0 

 Weight of the matter 240 



1?0 

 Weight of the vial containing the min- 

 gled earth and water 74'4 



Difference of water displaced .... 9'6 



which is the weight of the volume of 

 water equal to that of the matter in- 

 troduced into the vial ; we have, con- 

 sequently, for the specific gravity of 

 the earth f!^ =25, the weight of the 

 water having been taken as 1. 



This number represents the mean 

 specific gravity of the isolated parti- 

 cles of the powder which has been 

 examined ; but we must not, from 

 this density, pretend to deduce the 

 weight of a particular volume of soil 

 — a cubic foot or a cubic yard, for in- 

 stance : we should come to far too 

 high a number. The weight of a 

 22 



given volume of earth must be deter- 

 mined immediately by ramming it 

 into a mould or measure of a known 

 capacity. 



From M. Schubler's experiments 

 it appears, 1st. That silicious and cal- 

 careous sandy soils are the heaviest 

 of any ; 2d. That clayey soils are of 

 least density ; 3d. That humus or 

 mould is of much lower density than 

 clay ; 4th. That a compound soil be- 

 ing generally by so much the heavier 

 as it contains a larger proportion of 

 sand, and so much the lighter as it 

 contains a larger quantity of clay, of 

 calcareous earth, and of humus, it is 

 possible, from the density of a soil, 

 to infer the nature of the principles 

 which prevail in it. In the course of 

 his experiments, M. Schiibler found 

 that artificial mixtures always gave 

 higher densities than those that ought 

 to have resulted from the several den- 

 sities of each of the sorts of substance 

 which formed the mixture. 



ANASARCA. A dropsy in the cel- 

 lular tissue of the limbs. 



ANASTOMOSING. Growing to- 

 gether, uniting. 



ANASTOMOSIS. The interlacing 

 and union of small veins or arteries 

 proceeding from different parts. 



ANATROPOUS. A very common 

 kind of embryo, produced by one side 

 of the ovule growmg upon itself, 

 while the other remains immoveable, 

 till, at last, that part of the ovule 

 which was originally next the apex 

 is brought down to the hilum, the 

 base of the nucleus in such cases 

 being at the apex of the ovule. The 

 common apple, and the greater part 

 of plants, offer an example of this. 



ANBURY. In farriery, a spongy, 

 soft tumour, commonly full of blood, 

 growing on any part of an animars 

 body. Substances of this kind may 

 be removed either by means of liga- 

 tures being passed round their bases, 

 or by the knife, and the subsequent 

 application of some caustic, in order 

 to effectually destroy the parts from 

 which they arise. 



Anbury, Ambury, Club-root : fingers 

 and toes. A swelling formed on the 

 roots and ground-stems of cabbages, 



