44 British Association for the Advancement of Science, 



gallons in organic chemistry, a great deal of labor, and that labor 

 of a combined nature, will be required. I am certain that this 

 object will be obtained. Organic chemistry has made its first 

 step, and already its field has been extended to a very surprising 

 degree. We meet every day with new and unexpected discov- 

 eries. It is, however, remarkable, that in the country in which 

 I now am, whose hospitality I shall never cease to remember, or- 

 ganic chemistry is only commencing to take root. We live in a 

 time when the slightest exertion leads to valuable results ; and, if 

 we consider the immense influence which organic chemistry exer- 

 cises over medicine, manufactm-es, and over common life, we 

 must be sensible that there is at present no problem more impor- 

 tant to mankind than the prosecution of the objects which organic 

 chemistry contemplates. I trust that English men of science will 

 participate in the general movement, and unite their eflbrts to 

 those of the chemists of the continent, to further the advance of 

 a science which, when taken in connection with the researches in 

 Physiology, both animal and vegetable, which have been so suc- 

 cessfully prosecuted in this country, may be expected to afford us 

 the most important and novel conclusions respecting the functions 

 of organization. 



Non-deconvpositiofi of Carbonic Acid by Plants. — Dr. Dalton 

 communicated through a friend, a short paper ' On the Non-de- 

 composition of Carbonic Acid by Plants.' He calculates, that in 

 5000 years, animals supposed to live upon the earth, would pro- 

 duce but .001 of carbonic acid, so that the assistance of plants to 

 purify our atmosphere is not necessary. By experiment, he 

 found, that a hot-house does not contain more or less carbonic 

 acid, by night or by day, than the external air, and the results 

 were the same in a number of repetitions of the experiments. 

 This paper was said to have been penned during the convales- 

 cence of its illustrious author from a late attack of illness, and 

 was listened to with the greatest attention. 



Galvanic Formation of Metallic Co'ppe)\ — The present is the 

 first occasion on which native copper has been found, actually de- 

 tected, as it were, in the very act of formation in the mine shaft. 

 The Cronebane mine has been wrought for a very lengthened pe- 

 riod, and has an additional interest as comiected with the present 

 subject, from the electro-magnetic condition of the next mine to 

 it, the Connoree, which is part of the same vein, having been de- 



