REPUBLICATION OF PROFESSOR JOHNSTON'S LECTURES. 
313 
REPUBLICATION" OF PROFESSOR JOHNSTON'S 
LECTURES. 
Dear Sir. — I have learned with great pleas- 
ure that you propose to publish an edition of 
the lectures of Professor Johnston, delivered be- 
fore the New- York State Agricultural Society 
and the Members of the Legislature of New 
York, the past winter, and which are published 
in the Transactions of the Society. They were 
received with great favor at the time they were 
delivered, and a perusal of them, since their 
publication, has elicited warm approbation from 
many distinguished men in our country, inter- 
ested in the advancement of agriculture. 
Fig. 78. 
These Lectures show the intimate connection 
which exists between science and practical ag- 
riculture, and no one can peruse them without 
being fully sensible of the high calling of the 
farmer, and of the destiny which awaits him 
when science and education shall bring to his 
aid all that they can confer upon his profession. 
Professor Johnston is a native, I understand, 
of Kilmarnock, in the east of Scotland, and was 
educated, it is believed, at the Uuiversity of 
Glasgow. He pursued the study of chemistry 
with Berzelius, a distinguished Swedish chemist, 
and travelled very extensively, at an early 
period of his life, in the northern regions of 
Europe — in Sweden, Norway, Finland, and 
Russia — traversing the whole breadth of Euro- 
pean Russia to the Wolga. Subsequently, he 
made himself familiar with the agriculture of 
other portions of Europe by personal examina- 
tion. At the foundation of Durham University, 
in England, he was appointed one of its teach- 
ers, and is now reader in chemistry and miner- 
alogy in that distinguished institution. He was 
appointed Professor of the Agricultural Chemi- 
cal Association, of the Highland and Agricultu- 
ral Society of Scotland, in November, 1843, for 
five years, and during that period, his labors 
were productive of great good to the agricultu- 
ral interests of Scotland. 
Professor Johnston published his lectures on 
Agricultural Chemistry and Geology, in 1841, 
and an enlarged edition was published in 1847. 
In this country, this work has passed 
through more than twenty editions, 
and it has also been republished on 
the continent of Europe, in French 
and German, and has secured the con- 
fidence of the farmers of this country, 
more than any work published, so far 
as I am informed. He has publish- 
ed "Contributions to Scientific Agri- 
culture," being a summary account of 
the proceedings and operations of the 
Agricultural Chemistry Association of 
Scotland, during his connection with 
it. This is a very valuable work, and 
deserving of extensive circulation in 
this country. 
Professor Johnston prepared, for 
schools, a Catechism on Chemistry and 
Geology, which has been very exten- 
sively introduced into the primary 
schools in England, Scotland, and Ire- 
land, and has passed through twenty- 
two editions there. It has been repub- 
lished in France, and it is believed, in 
several other countries of Europe. An 
edition has been published in this 
country, with an introduction by Pro- 
fessor John P. Norton, of Yale College, 
who pursued his studies a portion of 
his time, with Professor Johnston, while 
engaged in the Agricultural Chemical 
Association of Scotland. This is a 
work of great merit, and has been pro- 
ductive of the most favorable results 
wherever introduced. 
Professor Johnston was invited by the New- 
York State Agricultural Society, in 1848, to 
visit this country, and deliver a course of 
lectures before the society, and such other 
associations as he might be enabled to address. 
His connection with the Chemical Association 
not being concluded, the invitation was then 
declined. In 1849, the invitation was renewed, 
and he appeared before an American audience, 
for the first time, at the Annual Fair of the 
Society, at Syracuse, in September. His ad- 
dress upon that occasion Avas upon the agricul- 
ture of Europe, and was listened to with great 
interest, by an immense auditory. In Januaiy, 
1850, be delivered the course of lectures which 
are now presented, in separate form, before the 
Society and the Members of the Legislature. 
He subsequently delivered a course of lectures 
