The Sun.
London, England, 1848-12-11 00:00:00

POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTION

Dr. Ryan has been engaged during the past week in
delivering a series of most interesting and important
lectures .at the Royal Polytechnic Institution, on agri-
cultural chemistry, suited to the farmers, who, at this
season, annually visit our metropolis. Dr. Ryan's repu-
tation as an agricultural chemist has long been esta-
blished ; and it will be recollected that three, years ago,
he was chosen by the council of the Royal Agricultural
Society of England to deliver the annual lectures to the
membars.
His lectures during the past week have been con-
, fined principally to " the food of plants, and the sources
from which that food is derived." In the first part of the
course Dr. Ryan directed the attention of his audience
to tie:, organic and inorganic constituents of vegetables,
giving. a number of apt experiments for the purpose of
expls ining fully the nature and character of these con-
stituents.
He then passed on to the consideration of the food of
plants, and the supply of that food. The food which
formed the organic portion of the plant, namely, carbon,
hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen, he proved was derived
from the atmospheric; while such inorganic constituents
as silica, potash, soda, iron, lime, phosphoric and sul-
plauric acids, were derived either from the soil, or from
s ome substance added artificially to the soil. The les-
t urer entered at great length into the sources of the or•
panic food, showing, first, the changes which produce
carbonic acid during respiration, combustion, and decay;
acd then pointing out practically the separation by
plants of the carbon, and its assimilation to form the

futture wood. The decomposition of atmospheric water
by the plant to supply its hydrogen and oxygen was
at-so shown, and the Learned Doctor gave it as his
opinion, that the vital action of the plant, enabling it to
decompose these various compounds, was dependent on
electrical force. The separation of nitrogen, also, from
the carbonate and nitrate of ammonia, iu the air, was
proved very satisfactorily. In the second part of the
course Dr. Ryan explained the process of the disintegra-
tie n of rocks, the comminution of their particles, and
their decomposition by the action of air and moisture, to
form soils; and to these changes, he proved, we were to
tit./ .ce the supply of the inorganic constitution of plants.
The experiments by which be showed the conversion of
such insoluble matters as silica, chalk, 84c., into soluble
food were most interesting and characteristic. In the
ncluding portion of the series Dr. Ryan congratulated
the farmers upon the removal of much of that prejudice
against chemical agriculture which formerly existed, and
regretted that it should still exist in some minds. lie
also hboured to prove that by the aid of chemistry alone
c o uld farming become a perfect science, and that by an
an alytical examination of the soils, and a comparison of
their constituents with the requirements of the future
crop, could the system of manuring be successfully car-
rie A out. We need scarcely say that these lectures
th roughout were most numerously attended by the class
of persons for whom they were principally intended.

CALLS TO THE BAR. The following gentlemen
Yr 4 re called to the degree of Barrister-at-Law by the
Pour Inns of Court, in Michaelmas Term , 1848:—Lin-
coln's Inn—Robert Capel Cure, Esq.; William Henry
E. )dson, Esq. ; Robert Thomas Kent, Esq. ; Henry
Phillip Roche, Esq.; Charles Sargeant, Esq. ; Thomas
J4,seph llercy, Esq. ; Robert Irayston Frank, Esq.;
Arthur Benthall, Esq. ; Alfred Hill, Esq. ; Algernon
fit tthurst, Elq.; Benjamin Gray, Esq.; Henry Dickin-
son, Esq. ; Thomas Rawlinson, Esq. ; Wm. Augustus
lisrsh, Esq. Inner Temple—Alex. Clark Forbes, Esq.;
tlichael Haynes, Esq. Middle Temple—W. H. li.
.I)..;;agshawe, Esq.; J. Dunne, Esq.; A. Levy, Esq.; W.
M. Cooke, Esq ; A. F. P. Doran, Esq.; F. L. Dowling,
FA.q.; W. N. Neville, Ei.q.; E. . llornby, Esq.; P. F.
O. D'E. de Chat moy, Esq. ' - W. A. Clark, Esq.; G. M.
Li icks, Esq.; 11. C. Miles, Esq. Gray's Inn—William
T;jndell Barnard, Esq.
ACCIDENT WITH FIRE-AEDIS.—On Wednesday,
M r. Robert Smith, of Pontefract, was shooting at Dor-
riington, in company with T. Hall, Esq., of Puraton, a
ma agistrate of the West Riding, and a servant of Mr.
S.(nith's, named William Bake. Mr. Smith had marked
'Jo o place where a pheasant had rested, and was ap-
proaching the spot with his gun at half-cock, when the
i zummer of one of the barrels caught a bough—was
,ulled back and let fall upon the cap, discharging the
)arrel and lodging nearly the whole of the contents in
:he head of his unfortunate servant, and, of course,
' killing him on the spot. An inquest was held on the
:;allowing day, when the jury returned a verdict of" Ac-
-1
t;dentally killed."
The Cathedral Service at Bristol will, it is reported,
be changed. The Bristol Mercury says, it is proposed
that the whole of the chaunts shall be omitted, and the
Litany, &c., be merely read.