206 Notices of Recent and 



u'lsh the material of vegetable substance, although minute portions 

 are occasionally conveyed into the vegetable system, by the all per- 

 vading agency of water, yet the co-operation of the earth is indis- 

 pensable ; it supports the plant in its place, shelters the roots, and 

 adapts their position to receive the necessary aliment, mingles with, 

 and tempers the viscous quality of manure, and finally, keeping back 

 the rigid matters while the water passes through the necessary in- 

 gredients, yields it to the roots filtered and refined, and laden with 

 the elements of vegetable life. 



Hydrogen, one of the constituents of water, enters into a chemical 

 combination with parts of the plants, and becomes identified with 

 the solid tissue. It enters largely into resins and gums. The re- 

 maining portion of water not evaporated, retains its liquid form, and 

 appears in the sap, and in the juices of leaves and fruit. Nitrogen, 

 another gaseous material, obtained chiefly from animal decomposi- 

 tions, enters in small portions into the composition of sonae vegetables 

 occasioning, during their spontaneous decomposition, a strong disa- 

 greeable odor, of which cabbage and mushrooms are examples. 



The alkalies, acids, and earths, have their appropriate use in mod- 

 ifying the consistency, flavors, odors and colors of vegetables, as they 

 are variously elaborated and combined. 



The fibrous tissue of leaves is of a yellowish white. M. Senne- 

 bier considers the native color of carbon to be not black, but blue. This, 

 when deposited in the yellow substance of the leaf, and subjected to 

 the action of light, causes the beautiful hues of green which over- 

 spread the earth. The more carbon and the stronger the light, the 

 harder the leaf and the deeper the tinge ; less carbon allows more 

 water, hence a softer leaf and lighter color, rendered still paler by 

 shade. The color of carbon is doubtless changed by chemical agen- 

 cies, in the wood, bark and flowers. But although this, and the in- 

 fluence of electricity, with many other interesting facts in the physi- 

 ology of vegetables, have engaged the attention of naturalists, suffi- 

 cient insight has not been obtained to establish conclusive opinions. 

 Perhaps they are beyond the limit of human inquiry, and are refer- 

 able to those operations, where " the mysterious principle of life" acts 

 its important part. 



8. The JVatiiral, Statistical, and Civil History of the State of 

 JVeiv York, in three V^olumes, 8vo. by James MacAuley. New 

 York, Gould h Banks, and Wm. Gould &£ Co. (Communicated.) — 



