226 FERTILISING PRINCIPLE, &c. 



calcareous matter was, perhaps, the great agent ^ and, in as far as regards 

 Indigo, this was found, by experiment, to be the fact, for a minute portion 

 of lime was found to increase the produce upwards of 50 per cent. The 

 details of the agricultural experiment I omit, as foreign to our pursuits. 



In considering farther this subject, it occurred that lime might proba- 

 bly exist, in solution, amongst the rich mud on which the seed is sown, as 

 the waters recede, and this was found to be the case ; a quantity of it, 

 taken at the moment of the subsidence of the waters, being procured, it 

 was found that the drainings from this were highly charged with carbonic 

 acid gas, and that lime was held in solution by it, a fact which throws, 

 perhaps, some light on the phenomena of the formation of kankar." 



