M. C, Lea on Influence of Organic and Inorganic Bodies, etc. 197 
into the soil nearly one hundred and.fifty feet before reaching 
the same rock, which is here exposed upon the surface, and at the 
well bored at the Chicago Distillery Company’s premises on the 
North Branch, they penetrated the Joliet marble at a depth, I 
believe, of one hundred and eighty-six feet, which, at the other 
point is only twenty-nine feet from the surface; this and various 
other facts show the nature and extent of this convulsion, and 
that it was no difficult feat of nature to dam up this compara- 
tively trifling underground stream, and leave its waters pent up 
in the rocks and caverns for the future use and benefit of man. 
I do not know that these speculations will be of sufficient inter- 
est to be made public, but they may have the effect of direct- 
ing some abler pen to the solution of the problem as to the 
sources whence the Great Lakes derive their supply of water. 
Chicago, November, 1866. 
Art. XXI.— Experiments on the Influence of various Organic and 
Inorganic Bodies upon Germination and Vegetation; by M. 
Carey Lexa, Philadelphia. 
the seeds were moistened. It will be seen that the action of the 
strongest of our acids is insufficient to prevent germination when 
sufficiently dilute. And that the same may be said with respect 
to some of our most powerful oxydizing and reducing agents, ” 
The experiments were made by tying pieces of very thin mus- 
lin over glass vessels filled so full that the muslin dipped into 
the liquid. Grains of wheat were placed on this muslin, an 
equal number (20 perfect grains) on each. The capacity of the 
glasses was in every case 124 ounces, and the water was replaced 
as fast as it evaporated. There was added respectively to each 
as follows: 
No. 1. 1 drop sulphuric acid. 
2 drops nitric acid, 
3 “ hydrochloric acid. 
5 grs. bicarbonate of potash. 
5 “ dry carbonate of soda 
10 drops of rather weak liquid ammonia. 
5 grs. bromid of ammonium. 
A pair of zinc and copper plates connected above the surface 
y a wire, and plunged in plain water. ieee 
Am. Jour. Scr.—Szconp Serres, Vou. XLII, No. 128 —Mancu, 1867. _ 
26 ; 
DIAM Pw 1 
