310 



KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



NOTES ON RAIN WATER. 

 I ENDEAVORED ABOUT A YEAR AGO (in the 



"Critic") to show from the data afforded 

 by the analysis of a French chemist, to what 

 a vast extent the vegetable kingdom was 

 indebted to rain ; not for moisture 

 simply, but for a gradual yet constant 

 supply of those nitrogenous compounds, 

 which, in an assimilable shape, are essential 

 to the perfect development of the plant. 



Since then, our knowledge of facts con- 

 nected with this subject has been greatly 

 extended by M. Boussingault, a name distin- 

 guished for devotion to science, by an elabo- 

 rate series of estimations of the amount of 

 ammonia contained both in the river and 

 rain waters of the vicinity of Paris. The 

 alkalimetrical mode, adopted to determine 

 the amount of ammonia contained in any 

 given quantity of water, appears to have 

 yielded results as exact and delicate as could 

 be desired — a matter of no little importance, 

 for a systematic examination of the rain of 

 various localities, involving thousands of 

 analyses, is now become a desideratum of 

 scientific agriculture. 



The river-water from the Seine and Ourcq 

 was taken during the months of April and 

 May ; and although, in the latter instance, 

 the specimens examined yielded widely- 

 differing results, it is evident that the am- 

 moniacal contents of these waters are but 

 small, the average of that from the Seine be- 

 ing about 1| grains in 1,000 gallons of water ; 

 whilst that from the Ourcq yielded 6 grains 

 of ammonia to 1,000 gallons of water. These 

 amounts are less than would have been an- 

 ticipated, when we look at the position of 

 these rivers in the midst of a populous and 

 cultivated country, and remember that the 

 specimens of water submitted to analysis 

 were taken at the Parisian fountains supplied 

 by these waters. 



In one instance, the water of the Bieber, 

 which, however, seems to be a mere ditch, 

 draining several manufactories, the amount 

 of ammonia is considerable, being nearly 40 

 grains in 1,000 gallons of water ; but, as a 

 rule, the ammoniacal value of these river- 

 waters is small. Turning to a report on the 

 supply of water to the metropolis by Messrs. 

 Graham, Miller, and Hofmann in 1851, to 

 compare the Parisian and London river- water, 

 I find but one example given of the water 

 — that taken near the Red House, Battersea, 

 where the amount of ammonia was actually 

 estimated, and which yielded 31 grains 

 in 1,000 gallons ; showing Thames water to be 

 nearly as foul at that spot as that from the 

 Bieber just mentioned. 



When from the rivers we turn to waters 

 taken from wells in the country, and from the 

 Lac d'Enghien, the amount of ammonia pre- 



sent is almost infinitesimal, and, in one in- 

 stance, this alkali was absolutely wanting. 

 The influence of large masses of people con- 

 gregated together on the production of am- 

 monia is evidenced by several examinations 

 of the springs in some of the houses in Paris, 

 which, in three instances, yielded upwards 

 of 2,000 grains of ammonia in 1,000 gallons 

 of water. Can we wonder that the well- 

 water of Paris is undrinkable ? 



Sea-water at Dieppe gave about two grains 

 in the 1,000 gallons. M. Boussingault, in ad- 

 dition to these determinations, has also made 

 a few examinations on rain-water, which 

 agree with those of Mr. Barral, before re- 

 ferred to, and prove how far richer the rain- 

 water is in this nitrogenous body than it is 

 after it has percolated through the various 

 soils and strata to reappear as spring or river 

 water. This result is but an additional proof 

 of the absorbent power of the soil for salts, 

 which are thus separated from the rain, and, 

 as it were, stored up for the supply of the 

 plant when required. 



Amongst these experiments there is one 

 of singular interest, as throwing light on the 

 observed fact of the cherishing and stimu- 

 lating nature of snow on vegetation, and 

 which has hitherto been principally attributed 

 to its maintaining an equal temperature, re- 

 taining terrestrial heat-radiations, and pro- 

 tecting the plant from wind. Doubtless these 

 influences exert a protective and nourishing 

 action on the young plant ; but it also ap- 

 pears that the snow absorbs a large quantity 

 of ammonia from the soil — so that, when the 

 thaw comes, the plant is supplied with 

 moisture far richer in this stimulant than 

 mere rain-water usually is ; and this at a 

 time when, from the rise in the temperature, 

 the vital powers of the plant are also brought 

 more energetically into play. Some snow 

 which fell in March was collected ; one por- 

 tion, immediately after its descent, being 

 taken from a terrace — the other portion was 

 gathered thirty-six hours afterwards from 

 the soil of the garden ; when, on determin- 

 ing the amounts of ammonia the snow re- 

 spectively contained, it was found that the 

 latter portion from the garden soil, yielded no 

 less than sextuple the quantity of this nitro- 

 genous body than that taken from the ter- 

 race ; results pointing to the absorption of 

 this large amount of ammonia from the soil, 

 in the space of thirty-six hours. 



An accurate, widely-extended, and long- 

 continued series of experiments on the 

 amount of solid matter brought down in the 

 rain, and especially with respect to the quan- 

 tities of ammonia and nitric acid, in various 

 parts of this country, would prove of the 

 greatest interest and value. Were these 

 determinations also conjoined with meteoro- 

 logical observations, their utility would be 



