710 
ABSORPTION OF ARSENIC BY PLANTS. 
root and branch. There was plenty of timber about Mr. 
Boadle’s farm, and the thing could be done quickly, and the 
sooner the better for the colony. 
6( Mr, A . Skilling thought it ought to be recorded that the 
reason why the disease was confined to Mr. Boadle’s farm 
was attributable mainly to the precautionary measures taken 
by that gentleman, who, instead of disposing of his cattle at 
market—and many of them would have fetched twenty 
guineas—had warned all his neighbours of the existence of 
the malady, and was constantly having men riding round 
the paddocks to keep the cattle away from the fence. 
“ The following gentlemen were appointed as a committee 
to carry the above resolution into effect: Messrs. Mickle, 
hieil Black, A. Brock, P. McCracken, T. Creighton, Kissock, 
Bloxham, R. F. Greene, and T. Skilling, with power to add 
to their number.” 
ON THE ABSORPTION OE ARSENIC BY PLANTS. 
By E. S. Kensington, E.C.S., E.R.A.S., Dartmouth. 
The statements of Dr. Edmund Davy (vide Veterinarian , 
p. 657, et seq.), to the effect that certain pea plants which he 
had watered with a cold saturated solution of arsenious acid, 
not only absorbed the poison, but actually throve in it, came 
to perfection, and matured seeds, in which and in every other 
portion of the plants, arsenic could be readily detected, were, 
as you justly observed, of so startling a nature, that I was 
induced at once to make a few experiments on this subject, 
the results of which I now beg to lay before you. The late 
period of the season prevented my trying upon peas, but in 
default of these I transplanted two brocoli plants, two cab¬ 
bage plants, and four lettuces, into six separate pots, and 
sowed in two other pots seeds of mustard and cress, and 
allowed several days to elapse, in fact until the seeds had 
germinated. I then watered all these various plants with a 
saturated solution of arsenious acid (made with cold water), 
and after about eight hours the plants all dropped their 
leaves, though care was taken not to touch the leaves with 
the solution. On the second day I did not water them, but 
they did not seem to recover at all. On the third day a 
second dose was given them, and on the fourth day all the 
plants were quite dead, and the mustard and cress (which 
had already sprouted) had shared the same fate. I next 
