36—1850.] THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 21 
air is pressing only on the other. The fact must be; Now, if I prove 3 —— air contains this gas, the heat than tallow ; and for thi 
that the weight of the air pressing on the surface of the carbonic acid gas, as it is called, which — the maux of the Pa is reason, too, the | Esqui 
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; 45 miles high, and I say that sup- trees and plants, and whieh | — — from it in the act in every case is proportioned to the quantity o 
posing this tube — 45 miles high to the outside of growth. And this is the way in in Hy ch I prove that. | which can be got in a given time to unite with the 
of the atmosphere, this leg — — the same The carbonic acid gas is — not only by its oxygen of the air ; and so the cold-country man 
weight of stuff in it as that, or else the balance would | extinguishing flame and destroying -y — * — this a —— oil lamp of his lungs within him, and takes 
not be maintained. This is in fact a balance, weighing | curious property, that when ria i boisterous exercise to keep the bellows blo à in 
whatever is put into one leg of the tube by the height | a a chalky inso luble substance ; so — it Ta — tome | onder t0 tig Sm his biped ei while the hot-country 
ear li f placid 
air pressing here raises the quicksilver there to a height | induce — ime of the water to unite with the gas, it sparingly, emplo ozing es t fuel — he — en. 
of 30 inches; that is, the weight of air pressing on will become white and milky in in appearance, owing to w, I must not forget that I ought to be referrin 
every sq inch of the earth’s surface is the same as — — — this chalky i b —— — you | . ** ally to the fact that all these people and ail 
if 30 inches deep of quicksilver rested on every square | see. Now, if I can pass a quantity of common air living animals are loading the air with the poisonous 
inch. Now, 15 lbs. * of quicksilver would rest — through some lime-water, a ud the — originally | gas which comes up through the windpipe chim; 
inch i re covered 30 inches deep with | clear b y in this way, it will use it, from the es burning inside 1 
it, therefore 15 Ibs. oi pre rest on every square inch of | too, contains carbonic acid, and I shall thus have | further r digress for one minute, just to point out the fact 
the ear surface. If I let the air in on this end proved that there is in the air a gas which contains — er br 1 e o à large portion of the food an 
aee ages ou — see chat the quicksilver (now bearing an | very particles of charcoal which our plants and o nimal e wasted—spent as fuel—burned 
equal weight of air on both sides) will regain the same | trees require for their growth. Of course the air — m merae it, just to — its bodily heat. And the 
level in each side; so that this is in fact a measure of tains a very small portion of it, not 80 — as -oby farmer might take a hint from ; of course if his 
the apt of the air. of its bulk, because if it contained much it would de- | feeding catile or sheep are exposed to cold and rain 
made in a more portable and elegant form it is stroy life instead of preserving it; and I must, there: | they will need to burn more fuel to keep the heat of 
meter, from two Greek words which signify | fore, employ an apparatus which enables me to draw a | life within them. Keep them warm artificially, and less 
e er | large eat will be burned 
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it up; and as dry air weighs heavier than damp air, where the — below falls “out mi pulls the air in instead of in yards or fields, where — čan run — 
when the quicksilver sinks in the — we anticipate wet | after it through the lime-water in this crooked tube; and the bellows will not work sò active y, and the fre 
weather, and so this tube beeomes a weather glass, and | and you see that though clear before it is muddy enough | will not burn so fie mgm in their lungs, * less of 
furnished with a pais on the — of the qi now, owing to the formation of chalk in it, or carbonate | food will spent eet act of — 
silver it pulls round an of lime ; — proved that the air contains | fuel—more will be available for the purpose for oe 
ints to rain, fair, stormy, gis: so on ; and this is — the e ie avid which was necessary to form is given, i. ¢., for the — of fat and the pro- 
principle on which your weather glasses act. Well chalk, — ete chareoal contains the substance of our | motion of growth. It is not unfrequently the ease that 
then we have just the same weight of air around the plants an a a lo urni 
s if i i air then — oe — gives it to plants. field, gain no flesh at all. The fact is, every bit of food 
: that is carbonic acid is a compound of | that is eaten by them is burned up within them just to 
of soil would be ; and if K pu were — astonished at | chareoal and oxygen, you saw it forine when I burned e j 
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indeed stretch through the whole air in search of food, | rightly anderstesd, í it is necessary for tne know the But no now vet us return to the fact that the air is T 
as their roots do through the = but then ma winds | properties of these two gases. Car acid gas is poisoned by all this breathing and en ge 
are continually mixing the particles of air and | “choke damp ;” it sometimes collects in “old wells aud will find that a — 5 little breathing through some mne 
bringing frech ones to be fed upon by the foliage ‘of the | pits, and would then kill any one who enters them. It | water will make it muddy enough, proving how much 
than common air, and so — collects | more carbonic acid, and how much less oxygen, there is 
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in the way of our believing what is really the truth, in deep places, There are places where this gas aceu- in hed out than 
viz,, that plants get ev erything n them which will miulates on the surface of the earth. There is a valley | b breathed i in. The fae t is, the air we 
burn u p from the air, and only * incombustible part in the island of Java, in the bottom of which there is a tains 100 times more é¢arbonic acid than the air we 
E, mfi ET pe bs Sa ee te 
wood is 4 av mu there is in a 
at a red heat, under circumstances which hindered it rim of remarkably luxuriant vegetation, aa the of coals. Indeed the quantity of carbon or char. 
from taking fire; it is a piece of charcoal in fact, which | Skeletons of animals cover the ground beneath ; ride coal thus added to the air every year by the breat 
i i ndered in, bee ked i — i i ritain, 
iot an e enough i an i her animal: for 
the stuff in it, and the air is the only other — which | Poison, and lying down, had died. No one dared | beautiful arrangement that as carbonic acid gas (CO?) 
the plant could get at to get it from.* Secondly, be- venture to enter the fatal air to help or to recover a | is sent into the air, plants remove it. As fast as char- 
cause the air is heavy enough—has matter enough in | friend without the certainty of sharing his fate. — in and candles and in food is uniting with the 
it to supply many such trees or whole forests, if they Now, wherever oxygen is uniting with charcoal, it is health- bi oxygen of the air, and forming the owe | 
were wanted, from it—for it is many times hen vier than | forming this deadly destructive gas; and every fire that coz, ants are decomposing this carbonic acid, 
the soil from which people generally think that such burns, and every dungheap as it rots, and every breath | and — the charcoal geo ` their own selve es 
and plants do come. And, thirdly, I believe the | that is drawn, is simply a uniting of the — sub- out of it, and giving back the ae giving os 
tree gets its charcoal from the air because the air is not | stance of — or coal or straw or food with the oxygen pure to the air again; . — thus is 
y h, but it contains the right cities too; of the air, and is constantly giving out carbonic acid maintained fit for use. omy Tn “gw daylight 
it contains the ch — — — es of bare blac ab gas. And the air, though it contains but little propor- or wpe that kadi, is power owever, 
tance present in it, as Is w pro tionally, contains a great deal of this gas actually. and you know that if you want to blanch a plant, a 
i it is 101 commo: ere is but =,,, part of the air that is carbonie acid — plant for — i. ., hinder it from becom - 
though air contains it, and it is to the oxygen that the gas, but then there are 42,000 tons of air resting on ing =a 1.6. tee — it from — 4 45 the CO2 of 
air contains that it owes its ability to burn things, and every acre of the earth’s surface, so that there are the air, an ing wood, all 
its ability to maintain respiration—the breath of life in | actually 4 ewt. of carbonie acid gas—a quantity con. | that yeu — to — is to keep it Not 4 — Tight. And 
li i „ In the air this gas is mixed with | taining 1 ewt. of charcoal—in the air over every square | mae Wheat is too thick and lux i in 
er called nitrogen, which dilutes the former so as | perch of ground; and this of course increases with every time, so as to hinder A light from getting in upon its 
make it fit for the ordinary conditions of human life; breath that is drawn and eve ry fire that is burned, so 8 those stems will be unable to decompose the 
wers it not thus dilated it would be much too violent in | that we might suppose in the course of years the atmo- co: of the air—they will be unable, that is, to 
tion. I have here a ja j il] | Sphere would become loaded with this gas, and animals | charcoal to make them hard and woody; an will be 
uce a would be unable to live in it; and no doubt this would | white eae em without 9 te eat: e to be 
flame; so that if the air were pure oxygen every spark ultimately be the case, for besides the fires which are laid by the rain ; but mow those top le of, et let a 
oration thus making the air — for animal life, animals are lot of — bite them off, and you let the Tight i in upon 
end in agration. 
T shall burn this piece of wood in this oxygen gas. rapidly making it unfit for themselves. Each of us those stems, and they ‘will regain the power they 
Now, on removing t 8 wood I find a porti 1 — gives — acid gas with the air we brea ür had lost, and they will strengthen and harden 
disappeared—it has burned up- it has united with the lungs are in fact a little fireplace within each of us, | consequence y= being able to procure 
oxygen gas, and is n his jar in tlie form of a clear | Whe t food great measure burnt up, ard ou ce e alr. hey can 
. The gas is of very operties now; windpipe is —— are by which the products of that : carbonio acid of the air, and, 
\ oxy; as being satisfied by union with the charcoal | com ion eair. It is in this way that ing its — give the pure healthy oxygen, 
in this way has no longer any appetite, so to speak, for the heat of the living. body is kept up, whatever the can be proved. I dare taken a number of Cabbages, 
union with other things of the same kind; it will not | coldness of the air. Whenever carbon unites with oxy- one after another, on successive ays, cutting them 
now unite with the substance of tallow, and con- gen gas, heat accompanies the chemical action, and about midday, when or rife alle be supposed to be full 
Sequently so far from encouraging that chemical action whether it be the coal in our fireplace or the straw in our | Of the gas, if ever the any at all, and exposed 
which is productive of flame, it would extinguish flame dung-heaps, or the tallow in our candles, or the food in on 
i its being brought in contact wit 1 2 ; our — union of the o n of the air with the 
and therefore also, far m encouraging that | charcoa l they res respectiv vely contain produce heat—heat 
chemical — 7 1 which goes on during the res espiration of in proportion to the rapidity of the process of union 
3 to which etal — ge a ae fine Ari = ing the quantity of carbon in the fuel ; and so in ord 
air ig denz, se extin n at | increase this heat, and induce the oxygen to combine 
once, and would choke dur anil fn ‘ara iio w : ine rapidly with the charcoal, we build chimneys 
o thia point T shal refer again draw the air through the furnace, or we turn over | aud sen 
5 dungheaps to cause the air to mix with them 
carbon in Our 0 
vegetables came — — m the air, It Woks not determine more thoroughly, or we run about and take exer- 
1 of any particular plant came from the air, and | cise in order to breathe the eee ; and so the vi 
. early stages : a d eap 
its subs: 8 
from the soil, and some o ea fir 
oni or th and we get warmer: or . the heat is Increased | tires ö 
apply the ply he Tan bd with wih ‘organ marter, i io i the art of usin £ substances which contain more charcoal to combustion, W eth die ce o 
——— prom o = for the m cal effort | unite with the oxygen gas, and in this way coke makes | d — or more 82 . ease of respira- 
on sees ienie a hotter fire than wood, and oil or eamphine a brighter | tion and ordinary burning, is to plants. Unless in this 
the plant with a 
