of Merionethshire produced a powerful but tran- 
sient effect on grass. It was tried, at my request, 
by Sir Robert Vaughan at Nannau. 
The rains in our climate must tend very much 
to injure this species of manure, where it is exposed 
to them, soon after its deposition ; but it may pro- 
bably be found in great perfection in caverns or 
clefts in rocks, haunted by cormorants and gulls. 
I examined some recent cormorant’s dung which I 
found on a rock near Cape Lizard in Cornwall. It 
had not at all the appearance of the guano ; was of 
a greyish white colour ; had a very foetid smell, 
like that of putrid animal matter : when acted on 
by quicklime, it gave abundance of ammonia ; 
treated with nitric acid, it yielded uric acid. 
Night-soil , it is well known, is a very powerful 
manure, and very liable to decompose. It differs 
in its composition ; but always abounds in sub- 
stances composed of carbon, hydrogene, azote, and 
oxygene. From the analysis of Berzelius, it ap- 
pears that a part of it is always soluble in water ; 
and in whatever state it is used, whether recent 
or fermented, it supplies abundance of food to 
plants. 
The disagreeable smell of night-soil may be 
destroyed by mixing it with quicklime ; and if 
exposed to the atmosphere in thin layers strewed 
over with quicklime in fine weather, it speedily 
dries, is easily pulverised, and in this state may be 
used in the same manner as rape-cake, and delivered 
into the furrow with the seed. 
The Chinese, who have more practical know- 
ledge of the use and application of manures than 
