No. 149.] 485 



principles of chemistry. These are all very good in their place, 

 but they are generally applied for a specific purpos**, when some 

 particular ingredient is supposed to be exhausted, or wanting in 

 soils, like phosphate of lime or bone earth, potash, soda, &c. Here 

 the identical article is procured, and used to supply the missing 

 ingredient, and generally nothing else, although other things 

 may be wanting. This is obtained at some expense and trouble 

 for the farmer ; besides he may be deceived j he may not get 

 the article ; he may get something else ; he has to trust to 

 •others ; he does not know himself; the person who supplied tliem 

 may not know ; or he may be mistaken, or have intended to de- 

 ceive him. These things often occur in Europe, in the manufac- 

 ture and sale of special manures ; cautions are frequently seen 

 in their journals and periodicals to the public, against imposition 

 and disappointment in such matters : Agricultural empirics, 

 there, often impose their nostrums under the cover of manure, 

 on the credulous and unsuspecting, much to their detriment. 

 Even the great Liebig, one of the greatest chemists of the day, 

 was mistaken in manufacturing and preparing his famous special 

 manure, which was a compound of several ingrcdienrs, and meant 

 as a general specific, to cure diseases and defects in all soils, and 

 furnish each plant with the kind if food it requires. Yet Liebig 

 was mistaken ; his special manure was a total failure, and so ad- 

 mitted by most scientific and practical men in Europe. There 

 was no empiricism about Liebig; he was a regular bred, educa- 

 ted and practical chemist, and one of the ablest of the age, and 

 is now if he is living ; he committed an error, and if he did another 

 might, especially if he Avas not quite as eminent in his profession 

 as Liebig. Professor Mapes tells us that if any person who was 

 competent had, after examining the compound and ascertained 

 and added the missing article or articles, that this was easy 

 enough, and all would have been right, and not only Liebig's 

 reputation saved from the effects of the failure, but the profession 

 generally. It is n^w about three years since this compound was 

 given to the world, and proved a failure. Among the number of 

 eminent chemists of Europe, I should think if, the error was 

 corrigible, it would have been corrected long since by some of 

 them, or by Liebig himself. There was nothing to prevent him, 

 if he saw fit. It never has been though, that I have seen or 



