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ON  NASCENT  MANURES. 
ferent  conclusion  in  accordance  with  the  weight  they  attribute  to 
one  or  the  other  reason,  and  it  might  be  difficult  to  decide  the 
question  in  this  way.  But  the  following  experiments  I  believe 
will  much  more  insure  a  decision. 
(To  be  continued.) 
ON  NASCENT  MANURES. 
By  David  Stuart,  M.  D. 
Chemist  of  Maryland  Agricultural  Society. 
Seasoning  from  analogy,  all  manures  must  be  presented  to  the 
plant  in  the  nascent  state  in  order  to  their  assimilation  ;  but  a 
safer  proposition,  perhaps,  would  be,  that  many  elements  of  plants, 
while  they  exist  in  their  normal  or  natural  condition,  are  as  per- 
fectly unassimilable,  or  as  incapable  of  affording  nourishment  to 
them,  as  they  are  to  animals. 
A  hundred  illustrations  of  this  lav/  will  at  once  occur  to  every 
intelligent  mind  ;  and  the  facility  with  which  even  inorganic  com- 
pounds unite  while  in  the  nascent  form,  is  familiar  to  all.  Every 
molecule  of  matter,  whether  composed  of  compound  or  simple 
atoms,  seems  to  have  a  form  of  its  own,  and  until  it  has  assumed 
this  form,  or  state  of  aggregation  it  is  in  the  nascent  state3  or  in 
an  allontropic  condition. 
While  in  this  nascent  state,  its  tendency  to  unite  with  other 
bodies  which  have  an  affinity  for  it,  is  wonderfully  increased;  in- 
deed, it  is  often  the  only  condition  in  which  two  substances  will 
combine.  The  celebrated  Farraday  attaches  so  much  importance 
to  this  nascent,  as  contrasted  with  the  normal  condition,  that  a  few 
months  since  he  expressed  the  opinion  that  ozone  is  merely  oxygen 
in  the  nascent,  or  allontropic  condition. 
Lime  and  Magnesia,  when  recently  slacked,  are  capable  of  uni- 
ting with  other  substances  ;  if,  however,  the  slacked  lime  or  mag- 
nesia is  kept  for  a  long  time,  even  although  perfectly  excluded 
from  the  air,  it  will  gradually  assume  the  form  of  granules,  and 
subsequently  these  molecules  will  form  crystals,  or  the  lowest'or- 
der  of  organisms ;  and  these  organs  seem  to  possess  a  degree  of 
resistance  to  external  force  analogous  to  the  resistance  of  the 
higher  organisms ;  indeed,  the  more  perfect  crystals  of  the  same 
