41 



the diseased actions of the body, and described the various 

 forms and stages which the , tissues assume under that action, 

 — -if Laennec, by auscultation? added another sense towards 

 the discovery of diseases in the animal frame, Liebig, Bous- 

 singault, and Sprengel, for agriculture, by exhibiting the 

 most perfect analyses of soils, and showing the requirements 

 of the land on the one hand,-.-and by affording tables made 

 with the most exquisite skill, containing the composition of 

 cultivated plants, on the other, — have taught us the true 

 principles upon which we are to investigate the causes of 

 failure in our crops, and the want of fertility in the soil. 

 If for medicine Sir Charles Bell discovered the functions 

 of the nerves of volition, and of the nerves of sensation,— 

 the analogy of the trifacial nerve, both in structure and 

 functions, to the spinal nerves, — and the tractus respira- 

 torius of the spinal column, — Liebig, for agriculture, has 

 discovered the origin and source of the vital chemical and 

 mechanical forces in the whole animal organism, — the adapt- 

 ation of the bile to the purposes of respiration, — the sub- 

 serviency of the excrementitious waste of bodies, in the great 

 cycle of the transformation of Nature, to the production of 

 crops and the support of the human species. 



Dr. BucKLAND said, that circumstances had hitherto pre- 

 vented him from expressing his sincere thanks to the Society, 

 for having on a former occasion elected him an honorary 

 member. Having performed that duty, he now wished to 

 thank Mr, Thor.p for the valuable Paper which he had just 

 read. It was indeed a matter of gr^at importance that 

 agriculture had attained the position which it now enjoyed ; 

 that chemical investigation was being applied so successfully 

 to thos^ pursuits on which the growth of the food of man- 

 kind depended. Mr. Thorp had given an able analysis of 

 Profj^s^or Liebig's work, which had opened a new field for 



