American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1872-10-19

engaged he turns round, the door is shut,
and the money is deposited in the back
part of the bank
Agricultural Chemistry.
The most difficult task for chemistry
was the investigation of the laws of life.
All that was known in regard to this was,
that the living organisms of the animal
and vegetable kingdoms consisted of Il few
elements, say three or four. which were
the same in both. The difference, then,
in the manifold organisms of the kingdoms
must needs be quantitative and here the
first want was an accurate method of
analysis. This presented Il difficult prob
lem. The first successful experiments
date back as far 1909, but the method of
determining weight was as yet so compile
Gated and wasteful of time, and required
so much skill and practice, that only a
few substances could be analysed. To in
vestigate the two organic kingdoms with
greater hope of success, an easier method
of analysis must be found, and here we
meet the name of man whom Germany
proudly calls her own.
To Justus Liebi@ belongs the merit of
having discovered method by which,
without loss of accuracy, the whole
process was greatly simplified, and
of which he himself made extensive use.
As his great teacher, Gay-Lussac,
had done before him, he burned
the organic substance to be analysed, in Il
dry glass tube with oxide OF copper, con-
densed the resultant water in an appara-
tus containing understanding salt,
calcium chloride, and the resultant car
bonic acid was absorbed in glass of
foater. This last was glass of peculiar
shape, with a clear liquid consisting of an
aqueous solution of pure caustic potash.
This glass of water, which has rendered
such great services to humanity, bears the
name of ''Liebig's potash apparatus" and
appears on his pictures. as interviewer
with the clouds of the higher regions, thus
enabling the chemist to recognize the por-
trait even without the signature.
BY that simplified method and by the
aid of the labors of his many talented stu
dents, who now adorn most of the chairs
of chemistry in Europe, rs well as through
the geniality of the master, the immense
material from which he reared the struc-
ture of organic chemistry could be col
lected and properly used. Agricultural
chemistry may be considered a part of Or
ganic chemistry its province is to deter
mine the laws of the growth of plants.
The year 1910 is of the same importance
In the history of the world as the years
1436. 1892, and IVA, which mark the in
vention of printing, the discovery OF
America, and that of oxygen.
A report upon the application OF chem
iStry to agriculture, which Iiebig had
agreed to prepare for the British Associa-
ton for the Advancement of Science, con-
WINGED him of the fact that the then
sisted mainly of errors. Instead, there
fore, of reporting upon agricultural
chemistry, he must first create the science.
He demonstrated this in the ever-memor-
able report which may be said to contain
nearly three-fOurths OF the agricultural
chemistry of the day. The immense ma
terials collected by him and his assistants
were of excellent service in this work, for
they had closely investigated almost all
the familiar ingredients of animals and
vegetables, and, after comparing them. in
duced the great laws of nutrition and the
mutual dependency of the two orders. He
found that plants derived their nutriment
solely from inorganic substances, taking
their carbon from carbonic acid, their nj
trogen from ammonia, their hydrogen
from water; that animals drew their sus-
tenancc from organic substances only :;
that vegetable albumen had the same COM
position as the albumen in the egg and the
blood, and that its admission was the re-
suit of its being dissolved by digestion.
He then first announced the theory that
the inorganic constituents, the so-called
ashes, played an important part in the
growth of vegetables, and that without
their presence no vegetable structure
could subsist. Thousands of facts and re-
suits of experiments had previously
existed, but no one had found the law.
After Liebig's announcement and demon
stration, it became the starting-pOint of a
new science.
He has not been spared the struggles
which Copernicus and Lavoisier had to
encounter; yet it may now be said that
the warfare has terminated in his favor.
The ships searching for guanO-islands on
~. ~.
do so upon the advice of Liebig; the agri-
cultural colleges and similar institutions
which sprang from his breath. may. now
be counted by the dozen. He was the first
to assert that the most important changes
and revolutions in the history OF the
world arose from the destruction of the
wealth of the soil and that the conquer
ors OF the savage hordcs of Central Asia
were forced to march on by the violation
of a law of Nature. Now, since the change
OF habitatiOns is an unavoidable, cver-oc-
curing element in the worlds history, he
who must be considered the greater con-
QuerOr is the man who teaches humanity
what to do in order not to fall again aprey
to Natures law. Atilla and Alalic were
driven onward unconsciOusly, because
forced by natural law !; far superior, far
more powerful, is the natural philosopher
who unfolds the law and teaches how to
obey it. More enduring than the suprcm-
acy of the Roman Empire is the influence
of that knowledge which teaches man how
he may live on a soil for an unlimited pc
Rod of time and witt ever-constant result.
All this the illustrious inquirer obtained
from the accurate investigations of animal
and vegetable bodies; but the results
would not have been possible without the
improved method of analysis contained in
that glass of watcr.-Popular Science
Monthly for October.