The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1861-11-09

Other elementary bodies, chiefly metallic,
occur in some plants occasionally, and in
very small quantities; but SO far as is yet
known, they do not appear to be either nee
essary to their growth or to exercise any
material influence on the general vegetation
of the globe.
You next bubble at pronouns: you don't
Ike my pronouns. 1 didn't expect you
would and think that in this article you
will find a good many more things you
don't like.
Next. you don't like sophistry. 1 can't
help that. What I meant by sophistry
was, false philosophy; and here reiter-
ate the charge. Your article was batch
of sophistry, or false philosophy, from be-
ginning to end; and this you have proved
by your friend Stockhardt, which 1 will
notice in its proper place.
You then, in good old Billingsgate style,
talk about dirty feet. clearly habits, &C..
and persistently tryto inform US that you
have been circumcised in the flesh Thank
you for the information; but what has that
to do with t'shese elements gu
Next, you attempt to eulighten US on the
alphabet of chemical science-and most
gloriously do you perform that duty: you
make it as clear as mud. 10, you say,
stands for water. Now if you want to
write by chemical symbols, why go half
way about it? Don't you know that water
is compound of oxygen and hydrogen. in
the proportion of of the former to of
the latter, by weight? Then. your sym
bols for water should have been II. o., or
by volume o. H.'; for by volume, water is
composed of one part oxygen and two parts
hydrogen. Next, your explanation of Fe.,
for iron, is about the same, to farmers-and
you say that you are writing for their ben
fit. If you did not know why Fe. is the
symbol for iron, you should not have at
tempted an explanation at all. Let me here
say to this class of people the farmers) for
whom you are writing in particular. that
the Latin name for iron is ferruns, and the
initial letters of the Latin name represents
or is the symbol for iron. in chemistry.
''Statute of limitations has barred;'' 'ta
few fossilized tabIes.' Indeed is this the
language of a Professor in chemistry Do
you knoU that Spreng;e is not now living?
Do you know whether he is older than
Stockbardt? Where do you learn this-in
Stockhardt's Chemistry without Mas
teri? Remember the old adage, drown
ing men catch at straws." Do you not
know that Jas. F. W. Johnston and Gou-
verneur Emerson have each published val
liable works on agricultural chemistry, acB-
nowledged by the "wide world to be the
best ever published ? What fools those
men are for quoting Sprengle as the stand
ard author of tie day Neither are they
strangers to DR.. julius Adolphus Stock
hardt. and his Chemistry without Mas
ter" Hear Johnston; he says: ave are
indebted to Sprengle. Others las De Saus-
sure) have published many important and
very useful analyses of the inorganic mat
tel left by plants; but for the illustration of
the important, practical bearing of this
knowledge of their inorganic constituents
on the ordinary processes of agriculture, We
are. believe. in great measure indebted
to the writings and numerous analytical
researches of sprengIe. % Ali writers on ag-
riculturaI chemistry Acknowledge SpREseLE
to be the most accurate and most reliable.
Yet you say s'one STRENGTHENING your
readers to infer that be is not kHown as .
chemist and an author. What do you
suppose committee of lawyers would say,
if, on examining 8 would-be lawyer. in