322" CN THE GUANO, 



X. 



Extrad fro?}t a Memoir by Mejfrs. FouRCROY and Vauque- 

 LiN, on the Guano, or Natural Manure, of the fmall Jjlands 

 of (he South Sea, near the Coafi of Peru, Read at the French 

 National I nfiUute, bi/ A. Laugier.* 



M. Humboldt Among the multitude of fubjeas worthy the attention of 



thefirftwho the naturalift, which the philorophical Humboldt obferved 

 gave an account r r 



of the Guano, and colleded during his travels, the Guano is not the lead 

 confiderable, from the intereft which it excites. This cele- 

 brated naturalift, by making us acquainted with this fingular 

 matter, one of the principal refources of agriculture in the 

 countries he vifited, has given confirmation to a difcovery 

 made by the authors of this memoir, about the time of his re- 

 Memoir by turn. Reading their memoir on the exiftence of uric acid in 

 2We«V9#Four- ^^^ excrements of birds, it occurred to him that the Guano of 



croy and Vau- 



queiin on the the iflets on tiie coaft of Peru, which are frequented by great 

 excrements of numbers of birds, might poffibly be of the fame nature. It 



birds, fuggefted /-i-.n- -i 



the notion that remained for chemical inveftigation to examine how far this 



the Guano was conje6lure was well founded ; and Meflrs. Fourcroy and Vau- 



fame origin. queh'n undertook the analyfisof this matter. The following 



is the refult of their labours, with this view, extracted from 



the Memoirs of the National Inftitute. 



Before I enter upon a detail of the experiments made 

 upon Guano, in order to afcertain its nature, it may not be 

 irrelevant to the fubjefl to tranfcribe what M. Humboldt him- 

 fe!f fajs of this fiibftance in a note fent to the authors of this 

 memoir. 

 ■Extraftfrom " '^^'^^ Guano is found in abundance in the South Sea, in 



M, Humboldt's the Chinche iflands, near Pifco ; and alfo on the more foulh- 



Gua'no found on ^""^ ^^^^^ ^'^^ '^^^-^ ^^ ^^^' ^'^^> ^""^ Arica. The inhabitants 



certain fmall of Chancay, who make Guano an objeft o^ their commerce, 



iflands, ^^ j^ ^^^ return from the Chinche iflands once in 20 days. — 



Each veflei contains from 1500 to 2000 cubic feet. A vanega 



fells at Chancay for H livres, and at Arica for 15 livres, 



Tournois. 



—in beds 50 or " Guano is dug from beds 50 or 60 feet thick; where it is 



60/eet thick, worked like the bog-ore of iron. The iflets where it is found 



* Annales de Chimie, Vol. LVI. p. 258; 



are 



