468 Extracts from the Proceedings of the British 



the remaining one seventh being distributed throughout locali- 

 ties on either side of these lines. Having named the different 

 localities where peat is distributed, the total number of which in 

 acres appears to be three millions, Mr. Johnson entered into a 

 detailed description of the mode by which he obtained illumina- 

 ting gas from common peat or turf, which he produced by the 

 double decomposition of the constituents of the peat. He stated 

 that works for the production of gas have been recently erected, 

 and are in actual operation in two places in Ireland. The ^as 

 was good, and its cost, as stated to him by a gentleman who was 

 using it, less than two shillings the thousand cubic feet. He 

 stated that from one single pound weight of common peat an 

 hour's light may be produced, and that, its cost being so very 

 small, it should ultimately be extensively used throughout Ire- 

 land, and in its production there was one third of charcoal. 



Professor Sullivan corroborated Mr. Johnson's statement, and 

 said that he saw the gas produced when the experiments were 

 going on, and that it appeared good ; and from what he had seen 

 and heard from men who gave the study of peat considerable 

 attention, Mr. Johnson had succeeded in producing a cheap and 

 good light from a heretofore valueless though abundant source. 



Professor Cameron read a paper on Urea as a Direct Source 

 of Nitrogen in Vegetation. He showed that nitrogen was also 

 available, as food for plants, when a constituent of urea, as in its 

 ammonial combination; or, in other words, that urea, without 

 being converted into ammonia, may be taken up into the organ- 

 isms of plants, and there supply the necessary quantity of nitro- 

 gen. He described the experiments which led him to this con- 

 clusion, which were very elaborate, and were made on barley 

 plants in confined spaces supplied with ai'- freed from ammonia. 

 The following conclusions were deducible from the result of his 

 experiments, viz.: — 1. That the perfect development of barley 

 can take place, under certain conditions, in soil and in air desti- 

 tute of ammonia and its compounds. 2. That urea in S(jlution is 

 capable of being taken unchanged into the organisms of plants. 

 3. That urea need not be converted into ammonia before its 

 nitrogen becomes available for the purposes of vegetation. 4. 

 That the fertilizing effects of urea are little if at all inferior to the 

 salts of ammonia. 5. That their exists no necessity for allowing 

 drainings or other fertilizing substances containing urea to fer- 

 ment, but that, on the contrary, greater benefits must be derived 

 from their application in the recent or unfermented condition. 



