Glasgow weekly times. (Glasgow, Mo.) 1848-1861, 1853-10-20

nature, and her mission is to open to the
gaze of man the wonderful and varied
adaptations Of the earth, and air. and sea,
provided for his use. In the beginning
God gave man dominion oyer the physical
world, and chemistry must explore and
survey the extent, and show forth the riches
of his kingdom. She does not work as the
Alchemist worked-she does not toll 10 find
out in matter quality which God never be-
slowed upon it. Her business is with the
practicable and attainable. She learns the
properties and uses of matter and brings
her acquisition as an offering to the varied
pursuits Of man. She opens the medicine
chest of nature to the physician. she furnish
es safety lamp to the miner in his pit-she
puts mask OH the face of the needle-maker
which, charged with loadstone, winnows
from the air the metallic dust, destructive of
his life. She enters the foundry and the
work shop-the distillery and the artists
Studio-the pottery and the printing room
the mint and the manufactory-and wher-
ever she enters she brings the tribute of
knowledge. But though she wanders thus,
on her mission of benevolence, her widest
domain is in the field of husbandry.
1t is not surprising that our farmers lack
knowledge in Agricultural Chemistry
Chemistry itself, has not lived one hundred
years as a science. 2l-
Agricultural Chemistry is much Younger.
Sir Humphrey Davy died in 1929; his lee
lures before the Royal Society of Agricul-
ture in London (the first serious effort in
that department of science) were delivered
about fifty years ago. Organic Chemistry
is OF still later date, and Geology has only
within this century taken position as SCI
ence. .F.'.'..' s...
Agricultural chemists themselves differ
on some propositions of the highest practical
Importance, and they have yet before them
wide surface in nature UNEMPLOYED. All
human science is progressive, and the sci.
ences OF observation (of which chemistry is
one) are peculiarly so. But it may be
ssfely said, that of all sciences known to
man, the advances of chemistry have been
the most rapid since she took her place in
the circle Of the sciences. Her power of
analysis, while it opens to her the most
hidden laws of nature, secures to her results
the certainty which belong to the exact sci
ences. A chemist may err--he may at
tempt to deduce law from facts too limited
in number, or character; but his imperfect
or erroneous generalization cannot long es-
cape the scrutiny of his own or others ex.
periments. The conflicts of opinion now
going on among the distinguished chemists
OF the world, in regard to some of the pro-
cesses in nature connected with vegetable
and animal physiology, will end in knowl-
edge.
The practical farmer, by his carefully as
certained facts, will aid the chemist at his
crucible, and the chemist will bring back
to the farmer knowledge of the laws by
which nature works in the fields of hus-
bandry. This knowledge is indispensable.
Every farmer is in partnership with the at
mosphere and the soil. Like every part
nership, it is relation of trust and conf
dence-and, as in every other partnership,
the farmer ought to know the duties of the
other members of the firm as well as his
own. He should know the work assigned to
each OF his copartners, and how they work,
lest he may counteract their labors by his
own-and he should also know when 10 re.
ly upon them, and when not. More than all.
when they call upon him for assistance, he
should know how 10 furnish it. 1t is not
my hope to see every farmer chemist, so
skilled as to be able TO analyse the constitu-
ents of plant, or the ingredients of his
soil. That is not my expectation. But
trust the day will come when the constitu-
ents of every plant grown by our farmers
will be known, and the ingredients of eve
ny soil on which they are grown, shall bel
known also. My hope is that this knowl-I
edge will be diffused and rendered familiar,
SO that it may be applied by every intclli-
gent agriculturist in the State. Astronomy
calculates the rise and set of the sun and
moon, and the periods of eclipse; and the
world appropriates the results of the as
tronomer. Newton discovered the law Of
gravitation, and men who are not philoso-
pliers. realise the idea, and apply it in
thousand modes Of usefulness. Genius finds
out the hidden power Of water as a propel-
Tor on the sea and on the land, and now the
locomotive and the steamer are the common
engines of the world. And thus shall il be
with the offerings which science shall bring
to the art Of husbandry. . ..s
Concluded nert ueek.