Bibliography. 177 



1839. The principal results which M. Payen has established very 

 satisfactorily are, that the organic membrane and the matter deposited 

 upon it, or the lignine, properly so called, have a different composi- 

 tion, and are difierently affected by chemical agents. The latter is 

 attacked by alkalies and by strong acids, the former resists their ac- 

 tion. The former exactly accords with starch in chemical composi- 

 tion, the carbon being 44 per cent., and the oxygen and hydrogen in 

 the proportions to constitute water ; the latter consists of 54 carbon, 

 6.2 of hydrogen, and 39.8 of oxygen, containing therefore more hy- 

 drogen than is required to convert its oxygen into water. " This phe- 

 nomenon accords perfectly with the recent experiments of Colin and 

 Edwards, which have demonstrated that plants possess the power of 

 decomposing water ; and with those of Boussingault, which have 

 proved that a quantity of hydrogen is fixed in the plant during vege- 

 tation." The researches of Payen in this department of science, are 

 noticed in Meyeii's Report on the Progress of Physiological Botany, 

 for 1839, a translation of which is commenced in the October number 

 of the Annals of Natural History. Prof. Meyen seems to think the gen- 

 eral results may be relied upon, but points out some sources of error. 



12. Organic Chemistry in its applications to Agriculture and 

 Physiology; by Justus Liebig, M. D., Ph. D., F. R. S., M. R. I. A., 

 Professor of Chemistry in the University of Geissen, &.c. ; edited 

 from the manuscript of the author, by Lyon Playfair, Ph. D. Lon- 

 don, 1840, Taylor & Walton.* During the last twenty years, no sci- 

 ence has had more ardent devotees, or more industriously accumulated 

 facts, than organic chemistry ; and the name of the author of this 

 treatise stands pre-eminent among its European cultivators. Expecta- 

 tion has long been awakened, in the hope that some generalizations 

 and practical truths would be drawn from the vast mass of facts in this 

 science, applicable to the wants of the times, and to the advancement 

 of our knowledge of agriculture. Whenever this time should arrive, 

 it was confidently believed that the profession of agriculture would 

 receive great and permanent advancement. It is not too much to say, 

 that the publication of Prof. Liebig's Organic Chemistry of Agricul- 

 ture, constitutes an era of great importance in the history of agricul- 

 tural science. Its acceptance as a standard is unavoidable, for follow- 

 ing closely in the straight path of inductive philosophy, the conclu- 

 sions which are drawn from its data are incontrovertible. Confined 

 to the limits of a short notice, we cannot more than glance at the new 

 views of the author on subjects of the highest importance to the agri- 



* This work is about to be republished in this country, by Messrs. Wiley & Put- 

 nam, New York and London, under the charge of the junior Editor of this Journal. 

 Vol. XL, No. 1.— Oct.-Dec. 1840. 23 



