478 
THE WONDERS OF INSECT ARCHITECTURE. 
towards an equilibrium which is essential to 
the general harmony of nature is maintain- 
ed. 
That the electricity of the atmosphere in 
the night season should occasionally be 
negative, and that it should ordinarily be 
in a less degree positive than during the pre- 
sence of the sun, agreeably to the experi- 
ment above related, appears to be in perfect 
accordance with the very different states and 
operations of plants by day and night res- 
pectively. The transpiration of vapour, and 
the yielding of oxygen gas from the leaves, 
are processes peculiar to the day season, and 
to which the action of the solar rays is es- 
sential ; whereas, during the absence of the 
sun they appear to be occupied by the attrac- 
tion of vapours and of carbonic acid. Such, 
at least, are the facts which have constantly 
been offered to Iny observation in the course 
of the last summer, by means of numerous 
experiments, which I may have occasion 
more particularly to relate hereafter. It is 
true this representation does not literally 
coincide with the statement of Mr: Cavallo, 
and ray friend, Mr. Sturgeon, respecting the 
constant positive electricity of the atmo- 
sphere. But their observations being prin- 
cipally confined to the day season, and with- 
out any particular reference to the state of 
vegetation, must, I conceive, be considered as 
mainly relating to that portion of time ; 
while experiments relating to the variations 
occasioned by the presence and absence of 
the sun, and by the different operations of 
plants by day and night, and at different 
seasons of the year, are, I apprehend, reserv- 
ed in a great degree for futtlre investigation. 
In the mean time, the facts of the general 
positive electricity of the atmosphere, of the 
extreme conducting activity of plants in im- 
bibing this superabundance and transmitting 
a portion of it to the earth, while the residue 
is efficacious in promoting their germination 
and growth^ is, I trust, in a great degree, 
established by what has been advanced. 
Many particulars will, however, transpire in 
the course of a more detailed inquiry, which 
may conduce bo conform and illustrate these 
positions. 
Should it be thought that in the above 
statements I have made too liberal a use of 
the experiments and observations of others, 
I can only plead that my general object, in a 
manner, obliged me to search for assistance 
from, any, autlrentic sources of information 
from whence it could be derived, and that 
thus they are brought to support principles 
which do not appear to have been in the 
contemplation odf the excellent electricians to 
Vv^hom we are indebted for the facts ; those I 
mean which are taken from printed docu- 
ments, with the exception of M. Astier’s, 
wJiose further communications are indeed 
most desirable. As to those of my two most 
ingenious and excellent friends, .they being 
communicafSd for the express purpose of 
aiding me in the general inquiry, I could do 
no other than thus to bring forward the 
decisive evidence with which they have so 
generously furnished me in support of posi- 
tions which must otherwise have remained 
in a great degree in the state of mere hy- 
pothesis. 
(To be continued.) 
INSECT ARCHITECTURE. 
It can hevcr be too strongly impressed 
upon a mind anxious for the acquisition of 
knowledge, that the commonest things by 
which we axe surrounded are deserving of 
minute and careful attention. The most 
profound investigations of Philosophy are 
necessarily connected with the ordinary cir- 
cumstances of our being, and of the world 
in which our every-day life is spent. With 
regard to our own existence, the pulsation 
of the heart, the act of respiration, the 
voluntary movement of our limbs, the con- 
dition of sleep, are among the most ordinary 
operations of nature ; and yet how long 
were the wisest of men struggling with dark 
and bewildering speculations before they 
could offer anything like a satisfactory solu- 
tion of these phenomena, and how far are we 
still from an accurate and complete know- 
ledge of them ? The science of Meteorology, 
which attempts to explain to us the philo- 
sophy of matters constantly before our eyes, 
as dew, mist, and rain, is dependent for its 
illuetrations upon a knowledge of the most 
complicated facts, such as the influence of 
heat and electricity upon the air ; and that 
knowledge is at present so imperfect, that 
even these common occurrences of the wea- 
ther, which men have been observing and 
reasoning upon for ages, are by no means 
stitisfactorily explained, or reduced to the 
precision that every science should aspire 
to. Yet, however difficult it may be entirely 
to comprehend the phenomena we daily wit- 
ness, every thing in nature is full of instruc- 
tion. Thus the humblest flower of the field, 
although, to one whose curiosity has not 
been excited, and whose understanding has, 
therefore, remained uninformed, it may ap- 
pear worthless and contemptible, is valuable 
to the botanist, not only with regard to its 
place in the arrangement of this portion of 
the Creator’s works, but as it leads his 
mind forward to the consideration of those 
beautiful provisions for tbe support of vege- 
table life, which it is the part of the physio- 
logist to study and to admire. 
