442 [ASSEMBLT 



liquid or gaseous condition, as the cellular substance of most of 

 the plants is too delicate to admit of even an impalpable powder. 

 The question whether the carbon comes from the earth or air, has 

 been often discussed, and is still unsettled in many minds. I be- 

 lieve it is indebted to the air chiefly, and the earth to the plant, 

 for the carbonaceous matter it contains. I have a plant that re- 

 q^uires carbon ; still when suspended in the air it grows luxuri- 

 antly, throws out its green leaves, and without water sustains 

 itself. It can only be dependent on the air for its carbon. The 

 first plants that grew before there was any vegetable matter in 

 the soil were nourished entirely by the atmosphere. Tulips, hy- 

 acinths, and otlier plants of the bulbous root family, grow beau- 

 tifully in pure water, if they are permitted to enjoy the atmos- 

 phere. Many seeds sown upon substances not containing a par- 

 ticle of vegetable matter, will grow into pure plants. Sow beans, 

 for experiment, upon pounded stones or brickbats, in the air ; in 

 ashoittime they will grow and double their carbon. I have 

 grown wheat upon a pane of glass, and caused it to assume a per- 

 fectly green, luxuriant, and beautiful appearance, without the 

 aid of soil. • 



The oxygen, hydrogen, and ammonia of plants is probably ob- 

 tained through the medium of water, chiefly, it being a compound 

 of one oxygen to 8 hydrogen, and is more universally distributed 

 throughout nature, than other chemical substances, and performs 

 the most important functions to vegetable life. It partakes of 

 three conditions — fluid, snow, and steam. In the form of fluid it 

 becomes at least half of all plants, and as it falls in the shape of 

 rain from the clouds, they become cleansed of all their impuiities, 

 that minister to the wants of growing plants, which will continue 

 to take up nourishment without cessation, so long as it is adapted 

 by fluid to circulate through their system. In the mean time the 

 leaves are unceasingly, during sunshine, absorbing carbonic acid 

 gas ; and if any circumstance should prevent the regular supply, 

 the plant would inevitably die. This carbonic acid gas is formed 

 by the continual decay of vegetable matter in the soil ; conse- 

 quently if it is replete with vegetable substances, the roots even 

 will enj;)y a carbonic acid atmosphere, and as they drink the fluid, 

 they must necessary absorb more or less acid in solution. The 

 fluid likewise takes up, as it percolates through the ground, 



