110 LETTER-FILES OF S. W. JOHNSON 



Company or among the chemists who have analyzed it. It 

 needs very little chemistry to demonstrate that every one of 

 your published analyses is either inconsistent in its chemistry, 

 or incomplete and unsatisfactory for agricultural purposes. 

 The estimate of its value by Dr. Stewart is very, very wide 

 of the true mark. In a few weeks it will become my duty, in 

 pursuance of my declared purpose, to publish my own results 

 and criticise the contents of your pamphlet. It will appear 

 in the end that you have a capital source of phosphoric acid, 

 but not of soluble superphosphates of lime, and that you 

 charge too high a price for it. If you desire that specimens 

 sent (any or all of them) be analyzed, that will be done in 

 this Laboratory not by me, but by an assistant who has that 

 branch of the business in charge, and the results will receive 

 the endorsements of and comments of Prof. B. Silliman, Jr., 

 or of Prof. John A. Porter, or both of them as you may wish. 



I am not Professor but am 1st assistant in chemistry ; my 

 duties in connection with the Yale Analytical Laboratory are 

 to superintend the courses of instruction in analytical and 

 practical chemistry. I am not at liberty therefore, you per- 

 ceive, to undertake analyses on my own private account for 

 fees, nor is it desirable that I should accept any favors from 

 either dealers or consumers which would invalidate my claims 

 to disinterestedness in the discussion that has just begun. 



I have been assured by parties whose opinions I respect as 



honest and unbiased, that the company owning the 



Guano is a body of reliable and fair men and intends to do 

 the right thing. I regret, therefore, that on them will fall 

 the discredit which must attach to overrating this Guano, 

 although they are free from blame. But in my published 

 articles I cannot attempt to decide where the blame lies. I 

 have simply to publish facts and my own deductions. I can- 

 not say to you, being strangers, that my analyses are right 

 and those of the other chemists are wrong, and recommend 

 you to change your prices and claim less for the guano, for 

 it would be easy to ascribe such an act to the lowest motives. 



