WIGHT-SOIL. 291 



celebrated restau/ateurs or taverns of the Palais Royal ; encouraged 

 by the success he obtained in employing this manure, and desirous 

 of obtaining a larger supply of the article, he rented the produce of 

 several of the barracks of Paris. The manure which he now obtain- 

 ed, hov/ever, he found to produce an effect greatly less than he had 

 anticipated, so that he lost money by his bargain. Berzelius found 

 the following substances in human excrements : 



Remains of food 7.0 



BHe 0.9 



Albumen 0.9 



A peculiar extractive matter 2.7 



Indeterminate animal matter, viscous matter, 



resin, and an insoluble residuum 14.0 



Salts 1.2 



Water 73.3 



100.0 



The salts had the composition following : 



Carbonate of soda 29.4 



Chloride of sodium 23.5 



Sulphate of soda 11.8 



Ammoniaco-magnesian phosphate • 11.8 



Phosphate of lime 23.5 



100.0 

 Human urine is one of the most powerful of all manures. Left 

 to itself it speedily undergoes putrefaction, and devolves an abun- 

 dance of ammoniacal salts, as all the world knows. Its composition, 

 according to Berzelius, is the following : 



Urea 3.01 



Uric acid 0.10 



Indeterminate animal matter > , -, 



Laclic acid, and lactate of ammonia \ 



Mucus of the bladder 0-03 



Sulphate of potash 0.37 



Sulphate of soda 0.32 



Phosphate of soda , 0.29 



Chloride of sodium 0.45 



Phosphate of ammonia 0.17 



Chlorhydrate of ammonia 0.15 



Phosphate of lime and of magnesia 0.10 



Silica traces 



Water 93-30 



100.00 



The phosphates of lime and magnesia which it contains are ex- 

 tremely insoluble salts, and have been supposed to be held in solution 

 by phosphoric acid, lactic acid, and very recently by Professor 

 Liebig, by hippuric acid, which he now states to be a regular con- 

 stituent of healthy human urine. 



From the interesting inquiries upon urine made by M. Lecanu, it 

 appears that a man passes nearly half an ounce of azote with his 

 urine in the course of twenty-four hours. A quantity of urine taken 

 from a public urine pail of Paris, yielded 7 per 1000 of azote. The 

 dry extract of the same urine yielded nearly 17 per cent. 



Human soil as commonly obtained consists of a mixture of fecu- 

 lent matters and urine. It may be applied immediately to the ground 



