50(5 On the Generation of Plants. 
been quite useless to its possessors. In this way also, the Duke of Mont¬ 
rose is enabled to convert to a profitable use the disbarked poles pro* 
duced on many thousand acres of Oak coppice, which owing to the 
remoteness of the situation from a market, and the difficulty of transport¬ 
ing them, would have been utterly useless. 
The apparatus for obtaining the acid and charcoal is extremely simple, 
consisting merely of a metal furnace and a few wooden vessels. The 
acid is used in bleaching, and as a mordant or basis for fixing the co¬ 
lours in calico printing; when purified by re-distillation, it is a pleasant 
and excellent vinegar, and it has also been found useful for preserving 
flesh meat. Glauber, by whom (in his book “De Distillatione,^’ pub¬ 
lished 200 years since) directions for obtaining the acid are given, attri¬ 
butes many other valuable qualities to it, as a medicine; and the charcoal 
produced in this way is superior to any other in the manufacture of gun¬ 
powder ; oi* with the economical method of consuming it in use on the 
continent, would be of immense importance in our cottage economy. 
A minute detail of the whole process will be found in Dr. Ure’s Diction¬ 
ary of Chemistry, which (had the foregoing remarks not extended so 
much farther than I anticipated, and than in all likelihood you will be 
disposed to excuse) it was my intention to transcribe; this, together 
with whatever I can glean concerning it, (unless, haply you shall be fa¬ 
voured with the observations of some person practically acquainted with 
the subject,)’ I shall, as I consider it a matter of paramount importance 
to the possessors of waste and wooded land, be happy to lay before you 
on a future occasion. 
E. Murphy. 
North- Frederick-Sti'cet, Dublin^ 
March 1, 1832. 
NATURAL HISTORY. 
Article XIV .—Experiments on the Generation of Plants, 
by M. Girov de Bvzareingues. Communicated by J. 
Rennie, Esq., A.M., A.L.S., Professor of Natural His¬ 
tory, King’s-College, London. 
In order to answer the question,—.Whether Hemp not fecundated, would 
produce fertile seeds } M. Girou de Buzareingues undertook similar cu¬ 
rious experiments to those upon animals, for which he has become so 
celebrated,—by secluding female plants as much as possible from the 
influence of pollen, by weeding out the male plants, or covering up the 
flowers,—the details of which, we cannot spare room to give. The re¬ 
sults were;— 
