Nov., 1892. the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen. 
255 
in the parish of Hartlebury ; in the Red Cliff, near Suckley ; 
at Drakelow, near Cookley Wood ; also in the hamlet of 
Alfrick, and the parish of Stone; but the brief account I have 
now given will probably be sufficient for the present occasion. 
It has been justly said that hermits were not entirely useless 
to the community, for many of them, being sincere though 
mistaken Christians, afforded at least examples of self-denial; 
while, from the results of their studies, they were not 
unfrequently skilled in useful sciences, such as pharmacy, or 
in arts formerly little practised with skill, such as fine smith’s 
work and horticulture ; and again, as their abodes were 
usually held sacred even by men of violent and unscrupulous 
habits, travellers and fugitives often found hospitality and 
security in the cell of the hermit during disturbed times, or in 
districts where these could nowhere else be secured. 
“ My lands I gave to feed the poor 
And sacred altars raise ; 
And here, a lonely anchorite, 
I came to end my days. 
No more the slave of human pride, 
Yain hope and sordid care ; 
I meekly vow’d to spend my life 
In penitence and prayer.” 
THE FIXATION OF ATMOSPHERIC NITROGEN BY 
LEGUMINOUS PLANTS.* 
BY T. B. BLUNT, M.A. 
The following short account of recent investigations on 
this subject may have some interest:—It is hardly necessary 
to remind those who are interested either in agriculture or 
gardening that the continuous cultivation of most crops 
exhausts the nitrogen naturally present in the soil as a 
constituent of vegetable and animal residues, and renders 
necessary the addition of artificial supplies in the form of 
ammonia salts, nitrates, or dung; but it has long been 
known that to this general rule the bean-tribe forms a great 
exception ; leguminous plants are not only able to supply them¬ 
selves with the nitrogen required by their tissues, but they 
actually enrich the ground for succeeding crops of other 
kinds. The explanation of this problem has occupied the 
attention of chemists for upwards of fifty years. At one 
time it was thought that nitrogen was absorbed and assimi¬ 
lated by the leaves of the plants, but this view was disposed 
* Read at the annual meeting of the Carudoc Field Club, 
September 22nd, 1892. 
