172 



Now in the production of electricity by the sulphate of 

 copper battery, we have the decomposition of water and of the 

 stilt ; and the formation of an oxide of copper, and a new salt, 

 the sulpliate of zinc ; and in this process, abundant electricity 

 is set at liberty. 



M. Becquerel, by a series of experiments, has shewn that 

 between the plant and the soil flows an electric current, the soil 

 being positive and the plant negative ; that by the banks of a 

 stream the phenomena are complex, the alkaline waters being 

 negative, and acid waters positive. If so, then the deposit of 

 the salts of soda, potash and ammonia in vegetables may be the 

 cause of their negative electricity. And when a thunder cloud 

 surcharged with positive electricity approaches the ripening 

 harvests, the conditions become such as to favor a discharge of 

 electricity between them. 



Arago says, that wheat fields, after a thunder storni of 

 sheet lightning, suffer from the breaking of the stalk and the 

 dropping of the heads of wheat. That the growing and ripen- 

 ing harvest exercises an influence on the electrical condition of 

 the air, may be affirmed on the same grounds that warrant our 

 conclusion that trees and forests act in this way. Evidence on 

 this subject is not abundant, and it is to be hoped that the facts 

 and opinions just presented may stimuLte other minds to other 

 and more extensive researches. 



For the Committee, 



JACOB BATCHELDER, Chairman. 



The Chair presented the meeting with notices of the bloom- 

 ing and budding of early spring flowers in 1855 and 1856, 

 from notes kept by Mr. S. B. Bdttrick, whose personal 

 observations on the aspects of the flowers are so well known. 



Calender of Spring for 1855. 



April 27. Leontodon taraxacum {dandeliofi), Saxifraga 

 Virginiensis. Viola ovata. Thalictrum dioicum, Hepatica 

 triloba, Ictodes foetida, Acer rubrum in flower, and Columbine 

 beginning to bud, near the Marblehead liail-road track and in 

 Derby's woods. 



