india’ 
_is offered to their’ ipiesale and can be abforbed by them; 
but.a nts may live and thrive without being ia 
contact any earth, we ought to take it for granted, 
that the foil, or what exifts in the foil, is not the only food 
of plants, Water is neceffar ry to all organized beings, as 
without it no circulation of juices could be carried on, 
from this neceffity it can only be deduced that water is a 
abe of the food, and by no means that it is the true 
nourifhment of animals or vegetables ; the le g it ig an 
incotronet ible fa& sie f veral plants can live without 
bein Re tact with w s the agave, ca¢ctus, aloe, 
ee. live on the cot dry rocks in the hotteft cli- 
tee, Scie it 
does not rain fometimes in the fpace of 
othe 
Lee 
dew, we > omgle to con- 
urih 
ment of vege es it muft be c nel ‘ded, that plants sul 
find it in the atmofpherie air, hee this, it is afferte 
only peat without which all vegetables cea "a 
plant ut Up in vacuo foon dies, and it diés in all forts of 
re incapable of fapporting animal 
acid gas, or fixed air, hydrogen 
gas, or a ene air, phlei air, cr azote, &c. 
it is true, he admits, that do@or Pr ieftley and Mr. Scheele 
have. Propagat ted a dotrine diametrically oppofite to he 
he ere advanced, ry se ng that peas thrive wonc 
fll in putrid woh n pure  depilogticted 
This do ioueh generally au opted, and very 
ingenionly copied “ fir John Pringle and ee to illut. 
e the mutual refemblance eftablifhed by the author of 
aie between the vegetable kingdom, and the animal 
creation, is, it is sonceived, refuted b 
is a is fuperior in purity 
to atmofpheric air. ic Bepinences fur les Végétaux,”’ 
‘tome ii. he has explained the manner of making thefe ex- 
periments with apenas ; bigs has pede the reafon why, of 
two ‘Hans » the with c mmon air, the other 
nized kingdoms, the animal and the 
ae Pie its nourifh om ho Be 
table 3 
rupted good air. This coutradition ftruck Dr. Prieflley 
fo each, that he sestioged the fummer of 1778 in repeat- 
air ea In 1778 he found, by accident, that by expoling 
well-water fi 
by examin microfe 
ance, in t ae tance fui sete ’ 
to which he gave ai name mee reen matter. M. Berthollet 
found alfo, that by expofing eee megan marine nad to 
the fun, vital air was produced ; a and Mr. Scheele in Sweden 
found that the fame air was alfo produced from nitro 
<prfed to the ight of the fun. 
that he was fortu 
o 
y 
ninde it worle, which ‘af was never fo much as eveul 
them, pare great porti n of 1 it into Gabon aed pas 
or fi-ed air, which being {pecitically heavier than atmo- 
{pheric air, eae naturally to fall downwards, and being 
mifcible with moilture, falts, ; and pia 0 f earthy 
erent is gk to combine with them. ound 
ruits, are * inceflantly employed 
ecompe ation, even in the midd 
en m pur gape onciine ng to the nature of vital air. 
- has indeed fated facts which prove that vital air, pro- 
ced by vigoreus dpe s in the funfhine, is of wn Elie ioe 
nee in itfelt d that the air thrown out m-in the’ 
fhade, or in the dae is in itfelf, that is to . ion free 
from other air, the mott ative poifon i in deftroying animal 
life yet known. 
¢ does not doubt: but this continual decompencan 
ernie air mu rae eral utility for the fub- 
vegetables themelve , and that the 
Se would, ‘phen 
ubftance, we ny 
pee a ae ourfelves with ae faét alon a for it 
would be 
e with ‘manu : Cae a 
ar who lives only e and water, all 
a various i amndaenns of this fple dood are performed. 
myftery is, it is fuppof e the reac ‘ 
ver “y limited underftandings. e 
miftry has received in our age, affo 
ftanding many phenomena which we were either. —— 
st, 
¢ 
