7796.) 
Cambrian Regifter ; if it be not tref{paff- 
ing too much on the more erudite re- 
fearches of your corre{pondent, perhaps 
a tranflation cf {ome of thefe pieces might 
be acceptable to your general readers. 
Fane 5, 1797- Bb. 

Jo the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
PAYING read the objections which 
T. P. has made (in your 8th Num- 
ber, page 612) to the hypothefis on the 
ufe of lime as a manure, I beg leave to 
fatisfy him, as far as is in my power 
It is always with pleafure, that one 
who withes to acquire knowledge, re- 
ceives facts from ordinary occurrences, 
or the common arts of life, on the fubjeét 
to which he turns his attention. ‘The 
artift, by a long courfe of experience, 
has the opportunity of afcertaining facts, 
and pointing out the effect of various 
proceffes, to which the attention of the 
philofopher may not be turned by his 
liné of experiments. Thofe fa¢ts may 
fuggeft to him many ufeful hints, ‘and 
lead him to important inveftigations. But 
the experience of the artifi muft full re- 
main uncertain, till {cience point out the 
On the Effects of Lime. ; ire 
caufe of the different appearances, and: 
explain the true reafon of the proceffes 
that are employed. 
Thus, the facts which T. P. has men- 
tioned, may lead to fome ufeful know- 
ledge ; but, in my opinion, they have 
very little relation to my former comé< 
munication on the ufe of lime in agri- 
culture. 
the effect of lime in promoting putrefac- 
ticn was only cccafionally introduced. It 
Was mentioned as originating with Sir 
john Pringle; but it is now widely 
{pread, and is by very many confidered 
as the only rational account of the opera- 
‘tion of that manure. It has been fup- 
ported by M'‘Bride, propagated by 
Black, and has been adopted by numbers 
of our fcientific writers on hufbandry. 
As this theory is no child of mine, I 
might be lefs difpofed to fupport it. If 
T. P. had objected to the opinion con- 
cerning the operation of lime on ftrong 
clay foil, with. little vegetable mould, 
which was the only one that I confidered 
as my own, [ might have felt myfelf 
more interefted. But though lefs able 
than many of the friends of the theory 
‘derived from Pringle’s experiments, I 
{hall endeavour to remove the objections 
againft ir, which your correfpondent has 
coduced. 
To accomplifh this, little more is ne- 
eeflary than to inform him, that he hes 

f 
5 
_confounded the effe€ts of lime, and of 
quick lime. on dead vegetable matter. Of 
the effeéts of quicklime 1 taid nothing : 
lonly mentioned thofe that were produc- 
ed by lime: the one is calcareous earth 
deftitute of fixed air: the other is the 
fame earth faturated with that air. By 
the experiments of Pringle, M‘Bride, 
and others, he will find that lime pro- 
motes the putrefaction of vegetable and 
animal fubftances ; but quicklime retards 
it; and, when applied in large quanti- 
ties, removes it, even when the putrefy- 
ing procefs has confiderably advauced. 
This is fuflicient to explain the effect of 
quicklime in the preparation and ufe of 
indigo, and\in wafhing the walls of in- 
-feéted apartments. 
If wood or hair be preferyed long in 
mortar, it is only neceflary to recolleé, 
that moifture is neceflary to putrefaction: 
and that when lime is made into mortar 
with fand, é&c. it cry ftallifes, and requires 
a confiderable quantity of water in form- 
ing the cryftals. To cbtain water, it at- 
tracts all the moifture in the wood or 
hair, and at the fame time covering them 
from the external air, prevents them 
from receiving more; they, are.herefore 
in a firuation in which we may expert 
them to be long preferved from corrup- 
tion. 
South Shields, O&. 23, 1796. T. 
THE foregoing anfwer to the remarks 
of T. P. in your Magazine for Sep- 
tember was tranfmitted to me by its in- 
genious author, according to the date an- 
In that paper, the theory of nexed, but has been untortunately mif- 
laid. Had it been forwarded to you foon- 
er, it might poilibly have obviated fome 
of the objeG@ions which have fince been 
made to his idea of the ufe of lime in agri- 
culture: though I admit that it has not 
been ufual to apply the word lime to its 
carbonate. If your correfpondent, T. P. 
has lived in a coal-country, where almoft 
every {pring 1s impregnated with vitrio- 
lic falts, he would perhaps Have been 
more ready toadmit the prefence of alum 
in clay-lands. 
But of this enough from me. I have 
only to add, that, it 1 can prevail on my 
ingenious friend to entraft me with any 
farther remarks, they fhall be tran(mit- 
ted with greater punctuality, by your 
friend, &c. 
Newcajile, Yan: 6, 1797- NF. 

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, : 
MBE common opinion, that the gift of 
prophecy is departed, was lately 
near to being refuted, by a fet of men 
whe 
