128 GUANO. 



composed entirely of this substance. It has 

 already been used as a manure on the conti- 

 nent of South America ; and there seems to be 

 no doubt, but that its use will prove highly 

 beneficial here, and at all events its merits 

 will now be tested. 



The following statement, affording all the in- 

 formation at present known relative to Guano, 

 is extracted from one of the periodicals of the 

 present day : — ■ 



" Various opinions have been formed as to 

 the origin of Guano, by some it is considered 

 a mineral production, by others the excrement 

 of sea-birds. At first sight, and without a care- 

 ful examination, it is difficult to decide on this 

 question. The immense quantities which have 

 been removed from, and which are still to be 

 found upon the islands and rocks off the coast 

 of Peru, as well as upon the coast itself, its 

 weight, the red colour of oxide of iron, and the 

 difficulty of conceiving how any number of 

 birds, however great, could have furnished so 

 inexhaustible a supply, — these circumstances 

 favour the idea of its being of mineral origin. 

 But, on the other side, its physical and chemi- 

 cal characters oppose such a supposition, and 

 would lead us to consider it as an animal pro- 

 duction. The ammoniacal odour which it 

 gives off, the existence of uric, phosphoric and 

 oxalic acids, and of potass, its red colour (dif- 

 fering in intensity in proportion to the time it 

 has been exposed to the air,) its identity of com- 

 position with the white Guano, which is pro- 

 duced daily, the circumstance of its being 

 found only on the coast, and never in the inte- 



