568  MINUTES  OF  THE  PHILADELPHIA  COLLEGE  OF  PHARMACY. 
nitrate  of  ammonia,  or— when  nitrogenous  organic  matter  is  present  in  the 
soil — as  free  nitric  acid,  or  as  nitrate  of  potassa,  soda,  or  lime. 
11.  That  nitric  acid,  free  or  combined,  acts  both  as  a  stimulant  and  true 
manure. 
12.  That  most  plants  possess  the  property  of  decomposing  the  alkaline 
and  earthy  nitrates,  and  of  transforming  them  into  protein  or  albumenized 
compounds  ;  others,  such  for  instance,  as  the  beet,  radish,  tobacco  (?),  &c, 
store  them  up  unchanged  in  their  tissues  ;  whilst  a  third  class  of  plants,  on 
the  contrary,  such  as  the  nettles, prunella  vulgaris,  datura  stramonium,  parie- 
taria  officinalis,  borago  (?),  &c,  actually  appear  to  possess  the  power  of 
transforming  ammonia  or  nitrogenous  compounds  into  nitric  acid. 
I  deeply  regret  that  my  departure  from  England  will  prevent  me  from 
furnishing  you  with  the  numerical  results  of  my  analyses,  from  which  these 
conclusions  were  deduced. 
Perhaps,  however,  at  some  future  time,  I  may  find  leisure  to  prepare 
them  for  publication. 
I  remain,  dear  Sir,  yours  very  truly, 
Thornton  J.  Herapath. 
Old  Park,  Bristol.  The  Chemist,  April,  1856. 
Hall  of  the  College,  9mo.  29,  1856. 
At  a  stated  meeting  held  this  evening.    14  members  present. 
Samuel  F.  Troth,  First  Vice  President,  in  the  Chair. 
The  minutes  of  the  annual  meeting  were  read,  and  adopted. 
A.  B.  Taylor,  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  read  the  minutes  of 
the  Board  for  the  past  six  months. 
Thomas  Weaver,  Richard  Peltz,  F.  Chapman  Hill,  William  C.  Bakes, 
T.  Morris  Perot,  M.  Henry  Kollock,  have  been  elected  members  since 
the  last  meeting.  William  Weightman,  recommended  to  the  College  for 
election,  was  on  ballot  unanimously  elected  a  resident  member. 
Prof.  Procter,  Corresponding  Secretary,  read  a  letter  received  by  him 
from  M.  Buignet,  Secretary  of  the  Society  of  Pharmacy,  Paris,  being  a  fa- 
vorable answer  to  the  tender  of  exchange  of  Transactions  with  that  body. 
The  delegates  elected  to  represent  this  College  in  the  American  Phar- 
maceutical Association  reported,  that  owing  to  the  inability  of  A.  B.  Tay- 
lor to  attend,  they  elected  Frederick  L.  John  to  substitute  him,  and  having 
all  attended,  have  the  satisfaction  of  reporting  that  the  meeting  was  one  of 
uncommon  interest  and  profit,  and  that  in  addition  to  the  extended  opera- 
tions to  be  detailed  in  the  published  Transactions  already  partly  in  print, 
