14 CHEMISTRY INDISPENSABLE 



were introdaced, but again went out of fashion, on 

 account of their failing to stand the test of long-con- 

 tinued use. Now it would surely have been rash to 

 infer positively from this circumstance that phospho- 

 rus was unsuitable to the purpose of instantaneous 

 ignition, for the Lucifer or friction matches, now so 

 universally employed, show that it is excellently 

 adapted to this end. The reason why the first ex- 

 periments miscarried consisted entirely in the er- 

 roneous form in which it was attempted to be used. 

 A like state of things has frequently prevailed, jn 

 the different results obtained by the application 

 and trial of this or that substance as a manure ; 

 favorable results were secured when by accident 

 alone it was made use of in the right form and at 

 the right time, unfavorable ones, on the contrary, 

 when this was not the case. Here then, also, a wide 

 and immeasurable field may be opened up to chem- 

 ico-agricultural investigations. 



Comparisons of a similar kind might be instituted 

 in still greater number, but we may be satisfied with 

 these few, which, it is hoped, will be sufficient to 

 show that the vocation and inherent capabilities of 

 chemistry are, at all events, not inconsistent with the 

 idea of its profitable influence upon practical hus- 

 bandry. * 



That practical knowledge has, nevertheless, in nu- 

 merous instances opposed, and to some extent con- 

 tinues to oppose, the concession to chemical science 

 of so much land and time as are necessary to estab- 



