EMILY.

But are not the oak-apples, which grow on the leaves of the oak in this country, of a similar nature?

MRS. B.

Yes; only they are an inferior species of galls, containing less of the astringent principle, and therefore less applicable to useful purposes.

CAROLINE.

Are the vegetable acids never found but in their pure uncombined state?

MRS. B.

By no means; on the contrary, they are frequently met with in the state of compound salts; these, however, are in general not fully saturated with the salifiable bases, so that the acid predominates; and, in this state, they are called acidulous salts. Of this kind is the salt called cream of tartar.

CAROLINE.

Is not the salt of lemon, commonly used to take out ink-spots and stains, of this nature?

MRS. B.

No; that salt consists of the oxalic acid, combined with a little potash. It is found in that state in sorrel.

CAROLINE.

And pray how does it take out ink-spots?

MRS. B.

By uniting with the iron, and rendering it soluble in water.

Besides the vegetable materials which we have enumerated, a variety of other substances, common to the three kingdoms, are found in vegetables, such as potash, which was formerly supposed to belong exclusively to plants, and was, in consequence, called the vegetable alkali.

Sulphur, phosphorus, earths, and a variety of metallic oxyds, are also found in vegetables, but only in small quantities. And we meet sometimes with neutral salts, formed by the combination of these ingredients.



CONVERSATION XXI.

ON THE DECOMPOSITION OF VEGETABLES.

CAROLINE.

The account which you have given us, Mrs. B., of the materials of vegetables, is, doubtless, very instructive; but it does not completely satisfy my curiosity. I wish to know how plants obtain the principles from which their various materials are formed; by what means these are converted into vegetable matter, and how they are connected with the life of the plant?

MRS. B.

This implies nothing less than a complete history of the chemistry and physiology of vegetation, subjects on which we have yet but very imperfect notions. Still I hope that I shall be able, in some measure, to satisfy your curiosity. But, in order to render the subject more intelligible, I must first make you acquainted with the various changes which vegetables undergo, when the vital power no longer enables them to resist the common laws of chemical attraction.

The composition of vegetables being more complicated than that of minerals, the former more readily undergo chemical changes than the latter: for the greater the variety of attractions, the more easily is the equilibrium destroyed, and a new order of combinations introduced.

EMILY.

I am surprised that vegetables should be so easily susceptible of decomposition; for the preservation of the vegetable kingdom is certainly far more important than that of minerals.

MRS. B.

You must consider, on the other hand, how much more easily the former is renewed than the latter. The decomposition of the vegetable takes place only after the death of the plant, which, in the common course of nature, happens when it has yielded fruit and seeds to propagate its species. If, instead of thus finishing its career, each plant was to retain its form and vegetable state, it would become an useless burden to the earth and its inhabitants. When vegetables, therefore, cease to be productive, they cease to live, and nature then begins her process of decomposition, in order to resolve them into their chemical constituents, hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen; those simple and primitive ingredients, which she keeps in store for all her combinations.

EMILY.

But since no system of combination can be destroyed, except by the establishment of another order of attractions, how can the decomposition of vegetables reduce them to their simple elements?

MRS. B.

It is a very long process, during which a variety of new combinations are successively established and successively destroyed: but, in each of these changes, the ingredients of vegetable matter tend to unite in a more simple order of compounds, till they are at length brought to their elementary state, or, at least, to their most simple order of combinations. Thus you will find that vegetables are in the end almost entirely reduced to water and carbonic acid; the hydrogen and carbon dividing the oxygen between them, so as to form with it these two substances. But the variety of intermediate combinations that take place during the several stages of the decomposition of vegetables, present us with a new set of compounds, well worthy of our examination.

CAROLINE.

How is it possible that vegetables, while putrefying, should produce any thing worthy of observation?

MRS. B.

They are susceptible of undergoing certain changes before they arrive at the state of putrefaction, which is the final term of decomposition; and of these changes we avail ourselves for particular and important purposes. But, in order to make you understand this subject, which is of considerable importance, I must explain it more in detail.

The decomposition of vegetables is always attended by a violent internal motion, produced by the disunion of one order of particles, and the combination of another. This is called FERMENTATION. There are several periods at which this process stops, so that a state of rest appears to be restored, and the new order of compounds fairly established. But, unless means be used to secure these new combinations in their actual state, their duration will be but transient, and a new fermentation will take place, by which the compound last formed will be destroyed; and another, and less complex order, will succeed.

EMILY.

The fermentations, then, appear to be only the successive steps by which a vegetable descends to its final dissolution.

MRS. B.

Precisely so. Your definition is perfectly correct.

CAROLINE.

And how many fermentations, or new arrangements, does a vegetable undergo before it is reduced to its simple ingredients?

MRS. B.

Chemists do not exactly agree in this point; but there are, I think, four distinct fermentations, or periods, at which the decomposition of vegetable matter stops and changes its course. But every kind of vegetable matter is not equally susceptible of undergoing all these fermentations.

There are likewise several circumstances required to produce fermentation. Water and a certain degree of heat are both essential to this process, in order to separate the particles, and thus weaken their force of cohesion, that the new chemical affinities may be brought into action.

CAROLINE.

In frozen climates, then, how can the spontaneous decomposition of vegetables take place?

MRS. B.

It certainly cannot; and, accordingly, we find scarcely any vestiges of vegetation where a constant frost prevails.

CAROLINE.

One would imagine that, on the contrary, such spots would be covered with vegetables; for, since they cannot be decomposed, their number must always increase.

MRS. B.

But, my dear, heat and water are quite as essential to the formation of vegetables, as they are to their decomposition. Besides, it is from the dead vegetables, reduced to their elementary principles, that the rising generation is supplied with sustenance. No young plant, therefore, can grow unless its predecessors contribute both to its formation and support; and these not only furnish the seed from which the new plant springs, but likewise the food by which it is nourished.

CAROLINE.

Under the torrid zone, therefore, where water is never frozen, and the heat is very great, both the processes of vegetation and of fermentation must, I suppose, be extremely rapid?

MRS. B.

Not so much as you imagine: for in such climates great part of the water which it requires for these processes is in an aeriform state, which is scarcely more conducive either to the growth or formation of vegetables than that of ice. In those latitudes, therefore, it is only in low damp situations, sheltered by woods from the sun's rays, that the smaller tribes of vegetables can grow and thrive during the dry season, as dead vegetables seldom retain water enough to produce fermentation, but are, on the contrary, soon dried up by the heat of the sun, which enables them to resist that process; so that it is not till the fall of the autumnal rains (which are very violent in such climates), that spontaneous fermentation can take place.

The several fermentations derive their names from their principal products. The first is called the saccharine fermentation, because its product is sugar.

CAROLINE.

But sugar, you have told us, is found in all vegetables; it cannot, therefore, be the product of their decomposition.

MRS. B.

It is true that this fermentation is not confined to the decomposition of vegetables, as it continually takes place during their life; and, indeed, this circumstance has, till lately, prevented it from being considered as one of the fermentations. But the process appears so analogous to the other fermentations, and the formation of sugar, whether in living or dead vegetable matter is so evidently a new compound, proceeding from the destruction of the previous order of combinations, and essential to the subsequent fermentations, that it is now, I believe, generally esteemed the first step, or necessary preliminary, to decomposition, if not an actual commencement of that process.

CAROLINE.

I recollect your hinting to us that sugar was supposed not to be secreted from the sap, in the same manner as mucilage, fecula, oil, and the other ingredients of vegetables.

MRS. B.

It is rather from these materials, than from the sap itself, that sugar is formed; and it is developed at particular periods, as you may observe in fruits, which become sweet in ripening, sometimes even after they have been gathered. Life, therefore, is not essential to the formation of sugar, whilst on the contrary, mucilage, fecula, and the other vegetable materials that are secreted from the sap by appropriate organs, whose powers immediately depend on the vital principle, cannot be produced but during the existence of that principle.

EMILY.

The ripening of fruits is, then, their first step to destruction, as well as their last towards perfection?

MRS. B.

Exactly. —A process analogous to the saccharine fermentation takes place also during the cooking of certain vegetables. This is the case with parsnips, carrots, potatoes, &c. in which sweetness is developed by heat and moisture; and we know that if we carried the process a little farther, a more complete decomposition would ensue. The same process takes place also in seeds previous to their sprouting.

CAROLINE.

How do you reconcile this to your theory, Mrs. B.? Can you suppose that a decomposition is the necessary precursor of life?

MRS. B.

That is indeed the case. The materials of the seed must be decomposed, and the seed disorganized, before a plant can sprout from it. Seeds, besides the embrio plant, contain (as we have already observed) fecula, oil, and a little mucilage. These substances are destined for the nourishment of the future plant; but they undergo some change before they can be fit for this function. The seeds, when buried in the earth, with a certain degree of moisture and of temperature, absorb water, which dilates them, separates their particles, and introduces a new order of attractions, of which sugar is the product. The substance of the seed is thus softened, sweetened, and converted into a sort of white milky pulp, fit for the nourishment of the embrio plant.

The saccharine fermentation of seeds is artificially produced, for the purpose of making malt, by the following process:— A quantity of barley is first soaked in water for two or three days: the water being afterwards drained off, the grain heats spontaneously, swells, bursts, sweetens, shows a disposition to germinate, and actually sprouts to the length of an inch, when the process is stopped by putting it into a kiln, where it is well dried at a gentle heat. In this state it is crisp and friable, and constitutes the substance called malt, which is the principal ingredient of beer.

EMILY.

But I hope you will tell us how malt is made into beer?

MRS. B.

Certainly; but I must first explain to you the nature of the second fermentation, which is essential to that operation. This is called the vinous fermentation, because its product is wine.

EMILY.

How very different the decomposition of vegetables is from what I had imagined! The products of their disorganisation appear almost superior to those which they yield during their state of life and perfection.

MRS. B.

And do you not, at the same time, admire the beautiful economy of Nature, which, whether she creates, or whether she destroys, directs all her operations to some useful and benevolent purpose? —It appears that the saccharine fermentation is extremely favourable, if not absolutely essential, as a previous step, to the vinous fermentation; so that if sugar be not developed during the life of the plant, the saccharine fermentation must be artificially produced before the vinous fermentation can take place. This is the case with barley, which does not yield any sugar until it is made into malt; and it is in that state only that it is susceptible of undergoing the vinous fermentation by which it is converted into beer.

CAROLINE.

But if the product of the vinous fermentation is always wine, beer cannot have undergone that process, for beer is certainly not wine.

MRS. B.

Chemically speaking, beer may be considered as the wine of grain. For it is the product of the fermentation of malt, just as wine is that of the fermentation of grapes, or other fruits.

The consequence of the vinous fermentation is the decomposition of the saccharine matter, and the formation of a spirituous liquor from the constituents of the sugar. But, in order to promote this fermentation, not only water and a certain degree of heat are necessary, but also some other vegetable ingredients, besides the sugar, as fecula, mucilage, acids, salts, extractive matter, &c. all of which seem to contribute to this process; and give to the liquor its peculiar taste.

EMILY.

It is, perhaps, for this reason that wine is not obtained from the fermentation of pure sugar; but that fruits are chosen for that purpose, as they contain not only sugar, but likewise the other vegetable ingredients which promote the vinous fermentation, and give the peculiar flavour.

MRS. B.

Certainly. And you must observe also, that the relative quantity of sugar is not the only circumstance to be considered in the choice of vegetable juices for the formation of wine; otherwise the sugar-cane would be best adapted for that purpose. It is rather the manner and proportion in which the sugar is mixed with other vegetable ingredients that influences the production and qualities of wine. And it is found that the juice of the grape not only yields the most considerable proportion of wine, but that it likewise affords it of the most grateful flavour.

EMILY.

I have seen a vintage in Switzerland, and I do not recollect that heat was applied, or water added, to produce the fermentation of the grapes.

MRS. B.

The common temperature of the atmosphere in the cellars in which the juice of the grape is fermented is sufficiently warm for this purpose; and as the juice contains an ample supply of water, there is no occasion for any addition of it. But when fermentation is produced in dry malt, a quantity of water must necessarily be added.

EMILY.

But what are precisely the changes that happen during the vinous fermentation?

MRS. B.

The sugar is decomposed, and its constituents are recombined into two new substances; the one a peculiar liquid substance, called alcohol or spirit of wine, which remains in the fluid; the other, carbonic acid gas, which escapes during the fermentation. Wine, therefore, as I before observed, in a general point of view, may be considered as a liquid of which alcohol constitutes the essential part. And the varieties of strength and flavour of the different kinds of wine are to be attributed to the different qualities of the fruits from which they are obtained, independently of the sugar.

CAROLINE.

I am astonished to hear that so powerful a liquid as spirit of wine should be obtained from so mild a substance as sugar.

MRS. B.

Can you tell me in what the principal difference consists between alcohol and sugar?

CAROLINE.

Let me reflect . . . . . Sugar consists of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. If carbonic acid be subtracted from it, during the formation of alcohol, the latter will contain less carbon and oxygen than sugar does; therefore hydrogen must be the prevailing principle of alcohol.

MRS. B.

It is exactly so. And this very large proportion of hydrogen accounts for the lightness and combustible property of alcohol, and of spirits in general, all of which consist of alcohol variously modified.

EMILY.

And can sugar be recomposed from the combination of alcohol and carbonic acid?

MRS. B.

Chemists have never been able to succeed in effecting this; but from analogy, I should suppose such a recomposition possible. Let us now observe more particularly the phenomena that take place during the vinous fermentation. At the commencement of this process, heat is evolved, and the liquor swells considerably from the formation of the carbonic acid, which is disengaged in such prodigious quantities as would be fatal to any person who should unawares inspire it; an accident which has sometimes happened. If the fermentation be stopped by putting the liquor into barrels, before the whole of the carbonic acid is evolved, the wine is brisk, like Champagne, from the carbonic acid imprisoned in it, and it tastes sweet, like cyder, from the sugar not being completely decomposed.

EMILY.

But I do not understand why heat should be evolved during this operation. For, as there is a considerable formation of gas, in which a proportionable quantity of heat must become insensible, I should have imagined that cold, rather than heat, would have been produced.

MRS. B.

It appears so on first consideration; but you must recollect that fermentation is a complicated chemical process; and that, during the decompositions and recompositions attending it, a quantity of chemical heat may be disengaged, sufficient both to develope the gas, and to effect an increase of temperature. When the fermentation is completed, the liquid cools and subsides, the effervescence ceases, and the thick, sweet, sticky juice of the fruit is converted into a clear, transparent, spirituous liquor, called wine.

EMILY.

How much I regret not having been acquainted with the nature of the vinous fermentation, when I had an opportunity of seeing the process!

MRS. B.

You have an easy method of satisfying yourself in that respect by observing the process of brewing, which, in every essential circumstance, is similar to that of making wine, and is really a very curious chemical operation.

Although we cannot actually make wine at this moment, it will be easy to show you the mode of analyzing it. This is done by distillation. When wine of any kind is submitted to this operation, it is found to contain brandy, water, tartar, extractive colouring matter, and some vegetable acids. I have put a little port wine into this alembic of glass (PLATE XIV. Fig. 1.), and on placing the lamp under it, you will soon see the spirit and water successively come over—



EMILY.

But you do not mention alcohol amongst the products of the distillation of wine; and yet that is its most essential ingredient?

MRS. B.

The alcohol is contained in the brandy which is now coming over, and dropping from the still. Brandy is nothing more than a mixture of alcohol and water; and in order to obtain the alcohol pure, we must again distil it from brandy.

CAROLINE.

I have just taken a drop on my finger; it tastes like strong brandy, but it is without colour, whilst brandy is of a deep yellow.

MRS. B.

It is not so naturally; in its pure state brandy is colourless, and it obtains the yellow tint you observe, by extracting the colouring matter from the new oaken casks in which it is kept. But if it does not acquire the usual tinge in this way, it is the custom to colour the brandy used in this country artificially, with a little burnt sugar, in order to give it the appearance of having been long kept.

CAROLINE.

And is rum also distilled from wine?

MRS. B.

By no means; it is distilled from the sugar-cane, a plant which contains so great a quantity of sugar, that it yields more alcohol than almost any other vegetable. After the juice of the cane has been pressed out for making sugar, what still remains in the bruised cane is extracted by water, and this watery solution of sugar is fermented, and produces rum.

The spirituous liquor called arack is in a similar manner distilled from the product of the vinous fermentation of rice.

EMILY.

But rice has no sweetness; does it contain any sugar?

MRS. B.

Like barley and most other seeds, it is insipid until it has undergone the saccharine fermentation; and this, you must recollect, is always a previous step to the vinous fermentation in those vegetables in which sugar is not already formed. Brandy may in the same manner be obtained from malt.

CAROLINE.

You mean from beer, I suppose; for the malt must have previously undergone the vinous fermentation.

MRS. B.

Beer is not precisely the product of the vinous fermentation of malt. For hops are a necessary ingredient for the formation of that liquor; whilst brandy is distilled from pure fermented malt. But brandy might, no doubt, be distilled from beer as well as from any other liquor that has undergone the vinous fermentation; for since the basis of brandy is alcohol, it may be obtained from any liquid that contains that spirituous substance.

EMILY.

And pray, from what vegetable is the favourite spirit of the lower orders of people, gin, extracted?

MRS. B.

The spirit (which is the same in all fermented liquors) may be obtained from any kind of grain; but the peculiar flavour which distinguishes gin is that of juniper berries, which are distilled together with the grain—

I think the brandy contained in the wine which we are distilling must, by this time, be all come over. Yes—taste the liquid that is now dropping from the alembic—

CAROLINE.

It is perfectly insipid, like water.

MRS. B.

It is water, which, as I was telling you, is the second product of wine, and comes over after all the spirit, which is the lightest part, is distilled. —The tartar and extractive colouring matter we shall find in a solid form at the bottom of the alembic.

EMILY.

They look very like the lees of wine.

MRS. B.

And in many respects they are of a similar nature; for lees of wine consist chiefly of tartrit of potash; a salt which exists in the juice of the grape, and in many other vegetables, and is developed only by the vinous fermentation. During this operation it is precipitated, and deposits itself on the internal surface of the cask in which the wine is contained. It is much used in medicine, and in various arts, particularly dying, under the name of cream of tartar, and it is from this salt that the tartarous acid is obtained.

CAROLINE.

But the medicinal cream of tartar is in appearance quite different from these dark-coloured dregs; it is perfectly colourless.

MRS. B.

Because it consists of the pure salts only, in its crystallised form; whilst in the instance before us it is mixed with the deep-coloured extractive matter, and other foreign ingredients.

EMILY.

Pray cannot we now obtain pure alcohol from the brandy which we have distilled?

MRS. B.

We might; but the process would be tedious: for in order to obtain alcohol perfectly free from water, it is necessary to distil, or, as the distillers call it, rectify it several times. You must therefore allow me to produce a bottle of alcohol that has been thus purified. This is a very important ingredient, which has many striking properties, besides its forming the basis of all spirituous liquors.

EMILY.

It is alcohol, I suppose, that produces intoxication?

MRS. B.

Certainly; but the stimulus and momentary energy it gives to the system, and the intoxication it occasions when taken in excess, are circumstances not yet accounted for.

CAROLINE.

I thought that it produced these effects by increasing the rapidity of the circulation of the blood; for drinking wine or spirits, I have heard, always quickens the pulse.

MRS. B.

No doubt; the spirit, by stimulating the nerves, increases the action of the muscles; and the heart, which is one of the strongest muscular organs, beats with augmented vigour, and propels the blood with accelerated quickness. After such a strong excitation the frame naturally suffers a proportional degree of depression, so that a state of debility and languor is the invariable consequence of intoxication. But though these circumstances are well ascertained, they are far from explaining why alcohol should produce such effects.

EMILY.

Liqueurs are the only kind of spirits which I think pleasant. Pray of what do they consist?

MRS. B.

They are composed of alcohol, sweetened with syrup, and flavoured with volatile oil.

The different kinds of odoriferous spirituous waters are likewise solutions of volatile oil in alcohol, as lavender water, eau de Cologne, &c.

The chemical properties of alcohol are important and numerous. It is one of the most powerful chemical agents, and is particularly useful in dissolving a variety of substances, which are soluble neither by water nor heat.

EMILY.

We have seen it dissolve copal and mastic to form varnishes; and these resins are certainly not soluble in water, since water precipitates them from their solution in alcohol.

MRS. B.

I am happy to find that you recollect these circumstances so well. The same experiment affords also an instance of another property of alcohol,—its tendency to unite with water; for the resin is precipitated in consequence of losing the alcohol, which abandons it from its preference for water. It is attended also, as you may recollect, with the same peculiar circumstance of a disengagement of heat and consequent diminution of bulk, which we have supposed to be produced by a mechanical penetration of particles by which latent heat is forced out.

Alcohol unites thus readily not only with resins and with water, but with oils and balsams; these compounds form the extensive class of elixirs, tinctures, quintessences, &c.

EMILY.

I suppose that alcohol must be highly combustible, since it contains so large a proportion of hydrogen?

MRS. B.

Extremely so; and it will burn at a very moderate temperature.

CAROLINE.

I have often seen both brandy and spirit of wine burnt; they produce a great deal of flame, but not a proportional quantity of heat, and no smoke whatever.

MRS. B.

The last circumstance arises from their combustion being complete; and the disproportion between the flame and heat shows you that these are by no means synonymous.

The great quantity of flame proceeds from the combustion of the hydrogen to which, you know, that manner of burning is peculiar. —Have you not remarked also that brandy and alcohol will burn without a wick? —They take fire at so low a temperature, that this assistance is not required to concentrate the heat and volatilise the fluid.

CAROLINE.

I have sometimes seen brandy burnt by merely heating it in a spoon.

MRS. B.

The rapidity of the combustion of alcohol may, however, be prodigiously increased by first volatilising it. An ingenious instrument has been constructed on this principle to answer the purpose of a blow-pipe, which may be used for melting glass, or other chemical purposes. It consists of a small metallic vessel (PLATE XIV. Fig. 2.), of a spherical shape, which contains the alcohol, and is heated by the lamp beneath it; as soon as the alcohol is volatilised, it passes through the spout of the vessel, and issues just above the wick of the lamp, which immediately sets fire to the stream of vapour, as I shall show you—

EMILY.

With what amazing violence it burns! The flame of alcohol, in the state of vapour, is, I fancy, much hotter than when the spirit is merely burnt in a spoon?

MRS. B.

Yes; because in this way the combustion goes on much quicker, and, of course, the heat is proportionally increased. —Observe its effect on this small glass tube, the middle of which I present to the extremity of the flame, where the heat is greatest.

CAROLINE.

The glass, in that spot, is become red hot, and bends from its own weight.

MRS. B.

I have now drawn it asunder, and am going to blow a ball at one of the heated ends; but I must previously close it up, and flatten it with this little metallic instrument, otherwise the breath would pass through the tube without dilating any part of it. —Now, Caroline, will you blow strongly into the tube whilst the closed end is red hot.

EMILY.

You blowed too hard; for the ball suddenly dilated to a great size, and then burst in pieces.

MRS. B.

You will be more expert another time; but I must caution you, should you ever use this blow-pipe, to be very careful that the combustion of the alcohol does not go on with too great violence, for I have seen the flame sometimes dart out with such force as to reach the opposite wall of the room, and set the paint on fire. There is, however, no danger of the vessel bursting, as it is provided with a safety tube, which affords an additional vent for the vapour of alcohol when required.

The products of the combustion of alcohol consist in a great proportion of water, and a small quantity of carbonic acid. There is no smoke or fixed remains whatever. —How do you account for that, Emily?

EMILY.

I suppose that the oxygen which the alcohol absorbs in burning, converts its hydrogen into water and its carbon into carbonic acid gas, and thus it is completely consumed.

MRS. B.

Very well. —Ether, the lightest of all fluids, and with which you are well acquainted, is obtained from alcohol, of which it forms the lightest and most volatile part.

EMILY.

Ether, then, is to alcohol, what alcohol is to brandy?

MRS. B.

No: there is an essential difference. In order to obtain alcohol from brandy, you need only deprive the latter of its water; but for the formation of ether, the alcohol must be decomposed, and one of its constituents partly subtracted. I leave you to guess which of them it is—

EMILY.

It cannot be hydrogen, as ether is more volatile than alcohol, and hydrogen is the lightest of all its ingredients: nor do I suppose that it can be oxygen, as alcohol contains so small a proportion of that principle; it is, therefore, most probably, carbon, a diminution of which would not fail to render the new compound more volatile.

MRS. B.

You are perfectly right. The formation of ether consists simply in subtracting from the alcohol a certain proportion of carbon; this is effected by the action of the sulphuric, nitric, or muriatic acids, on alcohol. The acid and carbon remain at the bottom of the vessel, whilst the decarbonised alcohol flies off in the form of a condensable vapour, which is ether.

Ether is the most inflammable of all fluids, and burns at so slow a temperature that the heat evolved during its combustion is more than is required for its support, so that a quantity of ether is volatilised, which takes fire, and gradually increases the violence of the combustion.

Sir Humphry Davy has lately discovered a very singular fact respecting the vapour of ether. If a few drops of ether be poured into a wine-glass, and a fine platina wire, heated almost to redness, be held suspended in the glass, close to the surface of the ether, the wire soon becomes intensely red-hot, and remains so for any length of time. We may easily try the experiment. . . . .

CAROLINE.

How very curious! The wire is almost white hot, and a pungent smell rises from the glass. Pray how is this accounted for?

MRS. B.

This is owing to a very peculiar property of the vapour of ether, and indeed of many other combustible gaseous bodies. At a certain temperature lower than that of ignition, these vapours undergo a slow and imperfect combustion, which does not give rise, in any sensible degree, to the phenomena of light and flame, and yet extricates a quantity of caloric sufficient to react upon the wire and make it red-hot, and the wire in its turn keeps up the effect as long as the emission of vapour continues.

CAROLINE.

But why should not an iron or silver wire produce the same effect?

MRS. B.

Because either iron or silver, being much better conductors of heat than platina, the heat is carried off too fast by those metals to allow the accumulation of caloric necessary to produce the effect in question.

Ether is so light that it evaporates at the common temperature of the atmosphere; it is therefore necessary to keep it confined by a well ground glass stopper. No degree of cold known has ever frozen it.

CAROLINE.

Is it not often taken medicinally?

MRS. B.

Yes; it is one of the most effectual antispasmodic medicines, and the quickness of its effects, as such, probably depends on its being instantly converted into vapour by the heat of the stomach, through the intervention of which it acts on the nervous system. But the frequent use of ether, like that of spirituous liquors, becomes prejudicial, and, if taken to excess, it produces effects similar to those of intoxication.

We may now take our leave of the vinous fermentation, of which, I hope, you have acquired a clear idea; as well as of the several products that are derived from it.

CAROLINE.

Though this process appears, at first sight, so much complicated, it may, I think, be summed up in a few words, as it consists in the conversion of sugar and fermentable bodies into alcohol and carbonic acid, which give rise both to the formation of wine, and of all kinds of spirituous liquors.

MRS. B.

We shall now proceed to the acetous fermentation, which is thus called, because it converts wine into vinegar, by the formation of the acetous acid, which is the basis or radical of vinegar.

CAROLINE.

But is not the acidifying principle of the acetous acid the same as that of all other acids, oxygen?

MRS. B.

Certainly; and on that account the contact of air is essential to this fermentation, as it affords the necessary supply of oxygen. Vinegar, in order to obtain pure acetous acid from it, must be distilled and rectified by certain processes.

EMILY.

But pray, Mrs. B., is not the acetous acid frequently formed without this fermentation taking place? Is it not, for instance, contained in acid fruits, and in every substance that becomes sour?

MRS. B.

No, not in fruits; you confound it with the citric, the malic, the oxalic, and other vegetable acids, to which living vegetables owe their acidity. But whenever a vegetable substance turns sour, after it has ceased to live, the acetous acid is developed by means of the acetous fermentation, in which the substance advances a step towards its final decomposition.

Amongst the various instances of acetous fermentation, that of bread is usually classed.

CAROLINE.

But the fermentation of bread is produced by yeast; how does that effect it?

MRS. B.

It is found by experience that any substance that has already undergone a fermentation, will readily excite it in one that is susceptible of that process. If, for instance, you mix a little vinegar with wine, that is intended to be acidified, it will absorb oxygen more rapidly, and the process be completed much sooner, than if left to ferment spontaneously. Thus yeast, which is a product of the fermentation of beer, is used to excite and accelerate the fermentation of malt, which is to be converted into beer, as well as that of paste which is to be made into bread.

CAROLINE.

But if bread undergoes the acetous fermentation, why is it not sour?

MRS. B.

It acquires a certain savour which corrects the heavy insipidity of flour, and may be reckoned a first degree of acidification; or if the process were carried further, the bread would become decidedly acid.

There are, however, some chemists who do not consider the fermentation of bread as being of the acetous kind, but suppose that it is a process of fermentation peculiar to that substance.

The putrid fermentation is the final operation of Nature, and her last step towards reducing organised bodies to their simplest combinations. All vegetables spontaneously undergo this fermentation after death, provided there be a sufficient degree of heat and moisture, together with access of air; for it is well known that dead plants may be preserved by drying, or by the total exclusion of air.

CAROLINE.

But do dead plants undergo the other fermentation previous to this last; or do they immediately suffer the putrid fermentation?

MRS. B.

That depends on a variety of circumstances, such as the degrees of temperature and of moisture, the nature of the plant itself, &c. But if you were carefully to follow and examine the decomposition of plants from their death to their final dissolution, you would generally find a sweetness developed in the seeds, and a spirituous flavour in the fruits (which have undergone the saccharine fermentation), previous to the total disorganisation and separation of the parts.

EMILY.

I have sometimes remarked a kind of spirituous taste in fruits that were over ripe, especially oranges; and this was just before they became rotten.

MRS. B.

It was then the vinous fermentation which had succeeded the saccharine, and had you followed up these changes attentively, you would probably have found the spirituous taste followed by acidity, previous to the fruit passing to the state of putrefaction.

When the leaves fall from the trees in autumn, they do not (if there is no great moisture in the atmosphere) immediately undergo a decomposition, but are first dried and withered; as soon, however, as the rain sets in, fermentation commences, their gaseous products are imperceptibly evolved into the atmosphere, and their fixed remains mixed with their kindred earth.

Wood, when exposed to moisture, also undergoes the putrid fermentation and becomes rotten.

EMILY.

But I have heard that the dry rot, which is so liable to destroy the beams of houses, is prevented by a current of air; and yet you said that air was essential to the putrid fermentation?

MRS. B.

True; but it must not be in such a proportion to the moisture as to dissolve the latter, and this is generally the case when the rotting of wood is prevented or stopped by the free access of air. What is commonly called dry rot, however, is not I believe a true process of putrefaction. It is supposed to depend on a peculiar kind of vegetation, which, by feeding on the wood, gradually destroys it.

Straw and all other kinds of vegetable matter undergo the putrid fermentation more rapidly when mixed with animal matter. Much heat is evolved during this process, and a variety of volatile products are disengaged, as carbonic acid and hydrogen gas, the latter of which is frequently either sulphurated or phosphorated. —When all these gases have been evolved, the fixed products, consisting of carbon, salts, potash, &c. form a kind of vegetable earth, which makes very fine manure, as it is composed of those elements which form the immediate materials of plants.

CAROLINE.

Pray are not vegetables sometimes preserved from decomposition by petrification? I have seen very curious specimens of petrified vegetables, in which state they perfectly preserve their form and organisation, though in appearance they are changed to stone.

MRS. B.

That is a kind of metamorphosis, which, now that you are tolerably well versed in the history of mineral and vegetable substances, I leave to your judgment to explain. Do you imagine that vegetables can be converted into stone?

EMILY.

No, certainly; but they might perhaps be changed to a substance in appearance resembling stone.

MRS. B.

It is not so, however, with the substances that are called petrified vegetables; for these are really stone, and generally of the hardest kind, consisting chiefly of silex. The case is this: when a vegetable is buried under water, or in wet earth, it is slowly and gradually decomposed. As each successive particle of the vegetable is destroyed, its place is supplied by a particle of siliceous earth, conveyed thither by the water. In the course of time the vegetable is entirely destroyed, but the silex has completely replaced it, having assumed its form and apparent texture, as if the vegetable itself were changed to stone.

CAROLINE.

That is very curious! and I suppose that petrified animal substances are of the same nature?

MRS. B.

Precisely. It is equally impossible for either animal or vegetable substances to be converted into stone. They may be reduced, as we find they are, by decomposition, to their constituent elements, but cannot be changed to elements, which do not enter into their composition.

There are, however, circumstances which frequently prevent the regular and final decomposition of vegetables; as, for instance, when they are buried either in the sea, or in the earth, where they cannot undergo the putrid fermentation for want of air. In these cases they are subject to a peculiar change, by which they are converted into a new class of compounds, called bitumens.

CAROLINE.

These are substances I never heard of before.

MRS. B.

You will find, however, that some of them are very familiar to you. Bitumens are vegetables so far decomposed as to retain no organic appearance; but their origin is easily detected by their oily nature, their combustibility, the products of their analysis, and the impressions of the forms of leaves, grains, fibres of wood, and even of animals, which they frequently bear.

They are sometimes of an oily liquid consistence, as the substance called naptha, in which we preserved potassium; it is a fine transparent colourless fluid, that issues out of clays in some parts of Persia. But more frequently bitumens are solid, as asphaltum, a smooth, hard, brittle substance, which easily melts, and forms, in its liquid state, a beautiful dark brown colour for oil painting. Jet, which is of a still harder texture, is a peculiar bitumen, susceptible of so fine a polish, that it is used for many ornamental purposes.

Coal is also a bituminous substance, to the composition of which both the mineral and animal kingdoms seem to concur. This most useful mineral appears to consist chiefly of vegetable matter, mixed with the remains of marine animals and marine salts, and occasionally containing a quantity of sulphuret of iron, commonly called pyrites.

EMILY.

It is, I suppose, the earthly, the metallic, and the saline parts of coals, that compose the cinders or fixed products of their combustion; whilst the hydrogen and carbon, which they derive from vegetables, constitute their volatile products.

CAROLINE.

Pray is not coke, (which I have heard is much used in some manufactures,) also a bituminous substance?

MRS. B.

No; it is a kind of fuel artificially prepared from coals. It consists of coals reduced to a substance analogous to charcoal, by the evaporation of their bituminous parts. Coke, therefore, is composed of carbon, with some earthy and saline ingredients.

Succin, or yellow amber, is a bitumen which the ancients called electrum, from whence the word electricity is derived, as that substance is peculiarly, and was once supposed to be exclusively, electric. It is found either deeply buried in the bowels of the earth, or floating on the sea, and is supposed to be a resinous body which has been acted on by sulphuric acid, as its analysis shows it to consist of ah oil and an acid. The oil is called oil of amber, the acid the succinic.

EMILY.

That oil I have sometimes used in painting, as it is reckoned to change less than the other kinds of oils.

MRS. B.

The last class of vegetable substances that have changed their nature are fossil-wood, peat, and turf. These are composed of wood and roots of shrubs, that are partly decomposed by being exposed to moisture under ground, and yet, in some measure, preserve their form and organic appearance. The peat, or black earth of the moors, retains but few vestiges of the roots to which it owes its richness and combustibility, these substances being in the course of time reduced to the state of vegetable earth. But in turf the roots of plants are still discernible, and it equally answers the purpose of fuel. It is the combustible used by the poor in heathy countries, which supply it abundantly.

It is too late this morning to enter upon the history of vegetation. We shall reserve this subject, therefore, for our next interview, when I expect that it will furnish us with ample matter for another conversation.



CONVERSATION XXII.

HISTORY OF VEGETATION.

MRS. B.

The VEGETABLE KINGDOM may be considered as the link which unites the mineral and animal creation into one common chain of beings; for it is through the means of vegetation alone that mineral substances are introduced into the animal system, since, generally speaking, it is from vegetables that all animals ultimately derive their sustenance.

CAROLINE.

I do not understand that; the human species subsists as much on animal as on vegetable food, and there are some carnivorous animals that will eat only animal food.

MRS. B.

That is true; but you do not consider that those that live on animal food, derive their sustenance equally, though not so immediately, from vegetables. The meat that we eat is formed from the herbs of the field, and the prey of carnivorous animals proceeds, either directly or indirectly, from the same source. It is, therefore, through this channel that the simple elements become a part of the animal frame. We should in vain attempt to derive nourishment from carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, either in their separate state, or combined in the mineral kingdom; for it is only by being united in the form of vegetable combination, that they become capable of conveying nourishment.

EMILY.

Vegetation, then, seems to be the method which Nature employs to prepare the food of animals?

MRS. B.

That is certainly its principal object. The vegetable creation does not exhibit more wisdom in that admirable system of organisation, by which it is enabled to answer its own immediate ends of preservation, nutrition, and propagation, than in its grand and ultimate object of forming those arrangements and combinations of principles, which are so well adapted for the nourishment of animals.

EMILY.

But I am very curious to know whence vegetables obtain those principles which form their immediate materials?

MRS. B.

This is a point on which we are yet so much in the dark, that I cannot hope fully to satisfy your curiosity; but what little I know on this subject, I will endeavour to explain to you.

The soil, which, at first view, appears to be the aliment of vegetables, is found, on a closer investigation, to be little more than the channel through which they receive their nourishment; so that it is very possible to rear plants without any earth or soil.

CAROLINE.

Of that we have an instance in the hyacinth and other bulbous roots, which will grow and blossom beautifully in glasses of water. But I confess I should think it would be difficult to rear trees in a similar manner.

MRS. B.

No doubt it would, as it is the burying of the roots in the earth that supports the stem of the tree. But this office, besides that of affording a vehicle for food, is far the most important part which the earthy portion of the soil performs in the process of vegetation; for we can discover, by analysis, but an extremely small proportion of earth in vegetable compounds.

CAROLINE.

But if earths do not afford nourishment, why is it necessary to be so attentive to the preparation of the soil?

MRS. B.

In order to impart to it those qualities which render it a proper vehicle for the food of the plant. Water is the chief nourishment of vegetables; if, therefore, the soil be too sandy, it will not retain a quantity of water sufficient to supply the roots of the plants. If, on the contrary, it abound too much with clay, the water will lodge in such quantities as to threaten a decomposition of the roots. Calcareous soils are, upon the whole, the most favourable to the growth of plants: soils are, therefore, usually improved by chalk, which, you may recollect, is a carbonat of lime. Different vegetables, however, require different kinds of soils. Thus rice demands a moist retentive soil; potatoes a soft sandy soil; wheat a firm and rich soil. Forest trees grow better in fine sand than in a stiff clay; and a light ferruginous soil is best suited to fruit-trees.

CAROLINE.

But pray what is the use of manuring the soil?

MRS. B.

Manure consists of all kinds of substances, whether of vegetable or animal origin, which have undergone the putrid fermentation, and are consequently decomposed, or nearly so, into their elementary principles. And it is requisite that these vegetable matters should be in a state of decay, or approaching decomposition. The addition of calcareous earth, in the state of chalk or lime, is beneficial to such soils, as it accelerates the dissolution of vegetable bodies. Now, I ask you, what is the utility of supplying the soil with these decomposed substances?

CAROLINE.

It is, I suppose, in order to furnish vegetables with the principles which enter into their composition. For manures not only contain carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, but by their decomposition supply the soil with these principles in their elementary form.

MRS. B.

Undoubtedly; and it is for this reason that the finest crops are produced in fields that were formerly covered with woods, because their soil is composed of a rich mould, a kind of vegetable earth, which abounds in those principles.

EMILY.

This accounts for the plentifulness of the crops produced in America, where the country was but a few years since covered with wood.

CAROLINE.

But how is it that animal substances are reckoned to produce the best manure? Does it not appear much more natural that the decomposed elements of vegetables should be the most appropriate to the formation of new vegetables?

MRS. B.

The addition of a much greater proportion of nitrogen, which constitutes the chief difference between animal and vegetable matter, renders the composition of the former more complicated, and consequently more favourable to decomposition. The use of animal substances is chiefly to give the first impulse to the fermentation of the vegetable ingredients that enter into the composition of manures. The manure of a farm-yard is of that description; but there is scarcely any substance susceptible of undergoing the putrid fermentation that will not make good manure. The heat produced by the fermentation of manure is another circumstance which is extremely favourable to vegetation; yet this heat would be too great if the manure was laid on the ground during the height of fermentation; it is used in this state only for hot-beds, to produce melons, cucumbers, and such vegetables as require a very high temperature.

CAROLINE.

A difficulty has just occurred to me which I do not know how to remove. Since all organised bodies are, in the common course of nature, ultimately reduced to their elementary state, they must necessarily in that state enrich the soil, and afford food for vegetation. How is it, then, that agriculture, which cannot increase the quantity of those elements that are required to manure the earth, can increase its produce so wonderfully as is found to be the case in all cultivated countries?

MRS. B.

It is by suffering none of these decaying bodies to be dissipated, but in applying them duly to the soil. It is by a judicious preparation of the soil, which consists in fitting it either for the general purposes of vegetation, or for that of the particular seed which is to be sown. Thus, if the soil be too wet, it may be drained; if too loose and sandy, it may be rendered more consistent and retentive of water by the addition of clay or loam; it may be enriched by chalk, or any kind of calcareous earth. On soils thus improved, manures will act with double efficacy, and if attention be paid to spread them on the ground at a proper season of the year, to mix them with the soil so that they may be generally diffused through it, to destroy the weeds which might appropriate these nutritive principles to their own use, to remove the stones which would impede the growth of the plant, &c. we may obtain a produce an hundred fold more abundant than the earth would spontaneously supply.

EMILY.

We have a very striking instance of this in the scanty produce of uncultivated commons, compared to the rich crops of meadows which are occasionally manured.

CAROLINE.

But, Mrs. B., though experience daily proves the advantage of cultivation, there is still a difficulty which I cannot get over. A certain quantity of elementary principles exist in nature, which it is not in the power of man either to augment or diminish. Of these principles you have taught us that both the animal and vegetable creation are composed. Now the more of them is taken up by the vegetable kingdom, the less, it would seem, will remain for animals; and, therefore, the more populous the earth becomes, the less it will produce.

MRS. B.

Your reasoning is very plausible; but experience every where contradicts the inference you would draw from it; for we find that the animal and vegetable kingdoms, instead of thriving, as you would suppose, at each other's expense, always increase and multiply together. For you should recollect that animals can derive the elements of which they are formed only through the medium of vegetables. And you must allow that your conclusion would be valid only if every particle of the several principles that could possibly be spared from other purposes were employed in the animal and vegetable creations. Now we have reason to believe that a much greater proportion of these principles than is required for such purposes remains either in an elementary state, or engaged in a less useful mode of combination in the mineral kingdom. Possessed of such immense resources as the atmosphere and the waters afford us, for oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon, so far from being in danger of working up all our simple materials, we cannot suppose that we shall ever bring agriculture to such a degree of perfection as to require the whole of what these resources could supply.

Nature, however, in thus furnishing us with an inexhaustible stock of raw materials, leaves it in some measure to the ingenuity of man to appropriate them to its own purposes. But, like a kind parent, she stimulates him to exertion, by setting the example and pointing out the way. For it is on the operations of nature that all the improvements of art are founded. The art of agriculture consists, therefore, in discovering the readiest method of obtaining the several principles, either from their grand sources, air and water, or from the decomposition of organised bodies; and in appropriating them in the best manner to the purposes of vegetation.

EMILY.

But, among the sources of nutritive principles, I am surprised that you do not mention the earth itself, as it contains abundance of coals, which are chiefly composed of carbon.

MRS. B.

Though coals abound in carbon, they cannot, on account of their hardness and impermeable texture, be immediately subservient to the purposes of vegetation.

EMILY.

No; but by their combustion carbonic acid is produced; and this entering into various combinations on the surface of the earth, may, perhaps, assist in promoting vegetation.

MRS. B.

Probably it may in some degree; but at any rate the quantity of nourishment which vegetables may derive from that source can be but very trifling, and must entirely depend on local circumstances.

CAROLINE.

Perhaps the smoky atmosphere of London is the cause of vegetation being so forward and so rich in its vicinity?

MRS. B.

I rather believe that this circumstance proceeds from the very ample supply of manure, assisted, perhaps, by the warmth and shelter which the town affords. Far from attributing any good to the smoky atmosphere of London, I confess I like to anticipate the time when we shall have made such progress in the art of managing combustion, that every particle of carbon will be consumed, and the smoke destroyed at the moment of its production. We may then expect to have the satisfaction of seeing the atmosphere of London as clear as that of the country. —But to return to our subject: I hope that you are now convinced that we shall not easily experience a deficiency of nutritive elements to fertilise the earth, and that, provided we are but industrious in applying them to the best advantage by improving the art of agriculture, no limits can be assigned to the fruits that we may expect to reap from our labours.

CAROLINE.

Yes; I am perfectly satisfied in that respect, and I can assure you that I feel already much more interested in the progress and improvement of agriculture.

EMILY.

I have frequently thought that the culture of the land was not considered as a concern of sufficient importance. Manufactures always take the lead; and health and innocence are frequently sacrificed to the prospect of a more profitable employment. It has often grieved me to see the poor manufacturers crowded together in close rooms, and confined for the whole day to the most uniform and sedentary employment, instead of being engaged in that innocent and salutary kind of labour, which Nature seems to have assigned to man for the immediate acquirement of comfort, and for the preservation of his existence. I am sure that you agree with me in thinking so, Mrs. B.?

MRS. B.

I am entirely of your opinion, my dear, in regard to the importance of agriculture; but as the conveniences of life, which we are all enjoying, are not derived merely from the soil, I am far from wishing to depreciate manufactures. Besides, as the labour of one man is sufficient to produce food for several, those whose industry is not required in tillage must do something in return for the food that is provided for them. They exchange, consequently, the accommodations for the necessaries of life. Thus the carpenter and the weaver lodge and clothe the peasant, who supplies them with their daily bread. The greater stock of provisions, therefore, which the husbandman produces, the greater is the quantity of accommodation which the artificer prepares. Such are the happy effects which naturally result from civilised society. It would be wiser, therefore, to endeavour to improve the situation of those who are engaged in manufactures, than to indulge in vain declamations on the hardships to which they are too frequently exposed.

But we must not yet take our leave of the subject of agriculture; we have prepared the soil, it remains for us now to sow the seed. In this operation we must be careful not to bury it too deep in the ground, as the access of air is absolutely necessary to its germination; the earth must, therefore, lie loose and light over it, in order that the air may penetrate. Hence the use of ploughing and digging, harrowing and raking, &c. A certain degree of heat and moisture, such as usually takes place in the spring, is likewise necessary.

CAROLINE.

One would imagine you were going to describe the decomposition of an old plant, rather than the formation of a new one; for you have enumerated all the requisites of fermentation.

MRS. B.

Do you forget, my dear, that the young plant derives its existence from the destruction of the seed, and that it is actually by the saccharine fermentation that the latter is decomposed?

CAROLINE.

True; I wonder that I did not recollect that. The temperature and moisture required for the germination of the seed is then employed in producing the saccharine fermentation within it?

MRS. B.

Certainly. But, in order to understand the nature of germination, you should be acquainted with the different parts of which the seed is composed. The external covering or envelope contains, besides the germ of the future plant, the substance which is to constitute its first nourishment; this substance, which is called the parenchyma, consists of fecula, mucilage, and oil, as we formerly observed.

The seed is generally divided into two compartments, called lobes, or cotyledons, as is exemplified by this bean (PLATE XV. Fig. 1.)—the dark-coloured kind of string which divides the lobes is called the radicle, as it forms the root of the plant, and it is from a contiguous substance, called plumula, which is enclosed within the lobes, that the stem arises. The figure and size of the seed depend very much upon the cotyledons; these vary in number in different seeds; some have only one, as wheat, oats, barley, and all the grasses; some have three, others six. But most seeds, as, for instance, all the varieties of beans, have two cotyledons. When the seed is buried in the earth, at any temperature above 40 degrees, it imbibes water, which softens and swells the lobes; it then absorbs oxygen, which combines with some of its carbon, and is returned in the form of carbonic acid. This loss of carbon increases the comparative proportion of hydrogen and oxygen in the seed, and excites the saccharine fermentation, by which the parenchymatous matter is converted into a kind of sweet emulsion. In this form it is carried into the radicle by vessels appropriated to that purpose; and in the mean time, the fermentation having caused the seed to burst, the cotyledons are rent asunder, the radicle strikes into the ground and becomes the root of the plant, and hence the fermented liquid is conveyed to the plumula, whose vessels have been previously distended by the heat of the fermentation. The plumula being thus swelled, as it were, by the emulsive fluid, raises itself and springs up to the surface of the earth, bearing with it the cotyledons, which, as soon as they come in contact with the air, spread themselves, and are transformed into leaves. —If we go into the garden, we shall probably find some seeds in the state which I have described—



EMILY.

Here are some lupines that are just making their appearance above ground.

MRS. B.

We shall take up several of them to observe their different degrees of progress in vegetation. Here is one that has but recently burst its envelope—do you see the little radicle striking downwards? (PLATE XV. Fig. 2.) In this the plumula is not yet visible. But here is another in a greater state of forwardness—the plumula, or stem, has risen out of the ground, and the cotyledons are converted into seed leaves. (PLATE XV. Fig. 3.)

CAROLINE.

These leaves are very thick and clumsy, and unlike the other leaves, which I perceive are just beginning to appear.

MRS. B.

It is because they retain the remains of the parenchyma, with which they still continue to nourish the young plant, as it has not yet sufficient roots and strength to provide for its sustenance from the soil. —But, in this third lupine (PLATE XV. Fig. 4.), the radicle had sunk deep into the earth, and sent out several shoots, each of which is furnished with a mouth to suck up nourishment from the soil; the function of the original leaves, therefore, being no longer required, they are gradually decaying, and the plumula is become a regular stem, shooting out small branches, and spreading its foliage.

EMILY.

There seems to be a very striking analogy between a seed and an egg; both require an elevation of temperature to be brought to life; both at first supply with aliment the organised being which they produce; and as soon as this has attained sufficient strength to procure its own nourishment, the egg-shell breaks, whilst in the plant the seed-leaves fall off.

MRS. B.

There is certainly some resemblance between these processes; and when you become acquainted with animal chemistry, you will frequently be struck with its analogy to that of the vegetable kingdom.

As soon as the young plant feeds from the soil, it requires the assistance of leaves, which are the organs by which it throws off its super-abundant fluid; this secretion is much more plentiful in the vegetable than in the animal creation, and the great extent of surface of the foliage of plants is admirably calculated for carrying it on in sufficient quantities. This transpired fluid consists of little more than water. The sap, by this process, is converted into a liquid of greater consistence, which is fit to be assimilated to its several parts.

EMILY.

Vegetation, then, must be essentially injured by destroying the leaves of the plant?

MRS. B.

Undoubtedly; it not only diminishes the transpiration, but also the absorption by the roots; for the quantity of sap absorbed is always in proportion to the quantity of fluid thrown off by transpiration. You see, therefore, the necessity that a young plant should unfold its leaves as soon as it begins to derive its nourishment from the soil; and, accordingly, you will find that those lupines which have dropped their seed-leaves, and are no longer fed by the parenchyma, have spread their foliage, in order to perform the office just described.

But I should inform you that this function of transpiration seems to be confined to the upper surface of the leaves, whilst, on the contrary, the lower surface, which is more rough and uneven, and furnished with a kind of hair or down, is destined to absorb moisture, or such other ingredients as the plant derives from the atmosphere.

As soon as a young plant makes its appearance above ground, light, as well as air, becomes necessary to its preservation. Light is essential to the development of the colours, and to the thriving of the plant. You may have often observed what a predilection vegetables have for the light. If you make any plants grow in a room, they all spread their leaves, and extend their branches towards the windows.

CAROLINE.

And many plants close up their flowers as soon as it is dark.

EMILY.

But may not this be owing to the cold and dampness of the evening air?

MRS. B.

That does not appear to be the case; for in a course of curious experiments, made by Mr. Senebier, of Geneva, on plants which he reared by lamp-light, he found that the flowers closed their petals whenever the lamps were extinguished.

EMILY.

But pray, why is air essential to vegetation, plants do not breathe it like animals?

MRS. B.

At least not in the same manner; but they certainly derive some principles from the atmosphere, and yield others to it. Indeed, it is chiefly owing to the action of the atmosphere and the vegetable kingdom on each other, that the air continues always fit for respiration. But you will understand this better when I have explained the effect of water on plants.

I have said that water forms the chief nourishment of plants; it is the basis not only of the sap, but of all the vegetable juices. Water is the vehicle which carries into the plant the various salts and other ingredients required for the formation and support of the vegetable system. Nor is this all; part of the water itself is decomposed by the organs of the plant; the hydrogen becomes a constituent part of oil, of extract, of colouring matter, &c. whilst a portion of the oxygen enters into the formation of mucilage, of fecula, of sugar, and of vegetable acids. But the greater part of the oxygen, proceeding from the decomposition of the water, is converted into a gaseous state by the caloric disengaged from the hydrogen during its condensation in the formation of the vegetable materials. In this state the oxygen is transpired by the leaves of plants when exposed to the sun's rays. Thus you find that the decomposition of water, by the organs of the plant, is not only a means of supplying it with its chief ingredient, hydrogen, but at the same time of replenishing the atmosphere with oxygen, a principle which requires continual renovation, to make up for the great consumption of it occasioned by the numerous oxygenations, combustions, and respirations, that are constantly taking place on the surface of the globe.

EMILY.

What a striking instance of the harmony of nature.

MRS. B.

And how admirable the design of Providence, who makes every different part of the creation thus contribute to the support and renovation of each other!

But the intercourse of the vegetable and animal kingdoms through the medium of the atmosphere extends still further. Animals, in breathing, not only consume the oxygen of the air, but load it with carbonic acid, which, if accumulated in the atmosphere, would, in a short time, render it totally unfit for respiration. Here the vegetable kingdom again interferes; it attracts and decomposes the carbonic acid, retains the carbon for its own purposes, and returns the oxygen for ours.

CAROLINE.

How interesting this is! I do not know a more beautiful illustration of the wisdom which is displayed in the laws of nature.

MRS. B.

Faint and imperfect as are the ideas which our limited perceptions enable us to form of divine wisdom, still they cannot fail to inspire us with awe and admiration. What, then, would be our feelings, were the complete system of nature at once displayed before us! So magnificent a scene would probably be too great for our limited and imperfect comprehension, and it is no doubt among the wise dispensations of Providence, to veil the splendour of a glory with which we should be overpowered. But it is well suited to the nature of a rational being to explore, step by step, the works of the creation, to endeavour to connect them into harmonious systems; and, in a word, to trace in the chain of beings, the kindred ties and benevolent design which unites its various links, and secure its preservation.

CAROLINE.

But of what nature are the organs of plants which are endued with such wonderful powers?

MRS. B.

They are so minute that their structure, as well as the mode in which they perform their functions, generally elude our examination; but we may consider them as so many vessels or apparatus appropriated to perform, with the assistance of the principle of life, certain chemical processes, by means of which these vegetable compounds are generated. We may, however, trace the tannin, resins, gum, mucilage, and some other vegetable materials, in the organised arrangement of plants, in which they form the bark, the wood, the leaves, flowers, and seeds.

The bark is composed of the epidermis, the parenchyma, and the cortical layers.

The epidermis is the external covering of the plant. It is a thin transparent membrane, consisting of a number of slender fibres, crossing each other, and forming a kind of net-work. When of a white glossy nature, as in several species of trees, in the stems of corn and of seeds, it is composed of a thin coating of siliceous earth, which accounts for the strength and hardness of those long and slender stems. Sir H. Davy was led to the discovery of the siliceous nature of the epidermis of such plants, by observing the singular phenomenon of sparks of fire emitted by the collision of ratan canes with which two boys were fighting in a dark room. On analysing the epidermis of the cane, he found it to be almost entirely siliceous.

CAROLINE.

With iron then, a cane, I suppose, will strike fire very easily?

MRS. B.

I understand that it will. —In ever-greens the epidermis is mostly resinous, and in some few plants is formed of wax. The resin, from its want of affinity for water, tends to preserve the plant from the destructive effects of violent rains, severe climates, or inclement seasons, to which this species of vegetables is peculiarly exposed.

EMILY.

Resin must preserve wood just like a varnish, as it is the essential ingredient of varnishes?

MRS. B.

Yes; and by this means it prevents likewise all unnecessary expenditure of moisture.

The parenchyma is immediately beneath the epidermis; it is that green rind which appears when you strip a branch of any tree or shrub of its external coat of bark. The parenchyma is not confined to the stem or branches, but extends over every part of the plant. It forms the green matter of the leaves, and is composed of tubes filled with a peculiar juice.

The cortical layers are immediately in contact with the wood; they abound with tannin and gallic acid, and consist of small vessels through which the sap descends after being elaborated in the leaves. The cortical layers are annually renewed, the old bark being converted into wood.

EMILY.

But through what vessels does the sap ascend?

MRS. B.

That function is performed by the tubes of the alburnum, or wood, which is immediately beneath the cortical layers. The wood is composed of woody fibre, mucilage, and resin. The fibres are disposed in two ways; some of them longitudinally, and these form what is called the silver grain of the wood. The others, which are concentric, are called the spurious grain. These last are disposed in layers, from the number of which the age of the tree may be computed, a new one being produced annually by the conversion of the bark into wood. The oldest, and consequently most internal part of the alburnum, is called heart-wood; it appears to be dead, at least no vital functions are discernible in it. It is through the tubes of the living alburnum that the sap rises. These, therefore, spread into the leaves, and there communicate with the extremities of the vessels of the cortical layers, into which they pour their contents.

CAROLINE.

Of what use, then, are the tubes of the parenchyma, since neither the ascending nor descending sap passes through them?

MRS. B.

They are supposed to perform the important function of secreting from the sap the peculiar juices from which the plant more immediately derives its nourishment. These juices are very conspicuous, as the vessels which contain them are much larger than those through which the sap circulates. The peculiar juices of plants differ much in their nature, not only in different species of vegetables, but frequently in different parts of the same individual plant: they are sometimes saccharine, as in the sugar-cane, sometimes resinous, as in firs and evergreens, sometimes of a milky appearance, as in the laurel.

EMILY.

I have often observed, that in breaking a young shoot, or in bruising a leaf of laurel, a milky juice will ooze out in great abundance.

MRS. B.

And it is by making incisions in the bark that pitch, tar, and turpentine are obtained from fir-trees. The durability of this species of wood is chiefly owing to the resinous nature of its peculiar juices. The volatile oils have, in a great measure, the same preservative effects, as they defend the parts, with which they are connected, from the attack of insects. This tribe seems to have as great an aversion to perfumes, as the human species have delight in them. They scarcely ever attack any odoriferous parts of plants, and it is not uncommon to see every leaf of a tree destroyed by a blight, whilst the blossoms remain untouched. Cedar, sandal, and all aromatic woods, are on this account of great durability.

EMILY.

But the wood of the oak, which is so much esteemed for its durability, has, I believe, no smell. Does it derive this quality from its hardness alone?

MRS. B.

Not entirely; for the chesnut, though considerably harder and firmer than the oak, is not so lasting. The durability of the oak is, I believe, in a great measure owing to its having very little heart-wood, the alburnum preserving its vital functions longer than in other trees.

CAROLINE.

If incisions are made into the alburnum and cortical layers, may not the ascending and descending sap be procured in the same manner as the peculiar juice is from the vessels of the parenchyma?

MRS. B.

Yes; but in order to obtain specimens of these fluids, in any quantity, the experiment must be made in the spring, when the sap circulates with the greatest energy. For this purpose a small bent glass tube should be introduced into the incision, through which the sap may flow without mixing with any of the other juices of the tree. From the bark the sap will flow much more plentifully than from the wood, as the ascending sap is much more liquid, more abundant, and more rapid in its motion than that which descends; for the latter having been deprived by the operation of the leaves of a considerable part of its moisture, contains a much greater proportion of solid matter, which retards its motion. It does not appear that there is any excess of descending sap, as none ever exudes from the roots of plants; this process, therefore, seems to be carried on only in proportion to the wants of the plant, and the sap descends no further, and in no greater quantity, than is required to nourish the several organs. Therefore, though the sap rises and descends in the plant, it does not appear to undergo a real circulation.

The last of the organs of plants is the flower, or blossom, which produces the fruits and seed. These may be considered as the ultimate purpose of nature in the vegetable creation. From fruits and seeds animals derive both a plentiful source of immediate nourishment, and an ample provision for the reproduction of the same means of subsistence.

The seed which forms the final product of mature plants, we have already examined as constituting the first rudiments of future vegetation.

These are the principal organs of vegetation, by means of which the several chemical processes which are carried on during the life of the plant are performed.

EMILY.

But how are the several principles which enter into the composition of vegetables so combined by the organs of the plant as to be converted into vegetable matter?

MRS. B.

By chemical processes, no doubt; but the apparatus in which they are performed is so extremely minute as completely to elude our examination. We can form an opinion, therefore, only by the result of these operations. The sap is evidently composed of water, absorbed by the roots, and holding in solution the various principles which it derives from the soil. From the roots the sap ascends through the tubes of the alburnum into the stem, and thence branches out to every extremity of the plant. Together with the sap circulates a certain quantity of carbonic acid, which is gradually disengaged from the former by the internal heat of the plant.

CAROLINE.

What! have vegetables a peculiar heat, analogous to animal heat?

MRS. B.

It is a circumstance that has long been suspected; but late experiments have decided beyond a doubt that vegetable heat is considerably above that of unorganised matter in winter, and below it in summer. The wood of a tree is about sixty degrees, when the thermometer is seventy or eighty degrees. And the bark, though so much exposed, is seldom below forty in winter.

It is from the sap, after it has been elaborated by the leaves, that vegetables derive their nourishment; in its progress through the plant from the leaves to the roots, it deposits in the several sets of vessels with which it communicates, the materials on which the growth and nourishment of each plant depends. It is thus that the various peculiar juices, saccharine, oily, mucous, acid, and colouring, are formed; as also the more solid parts, fecula, woody fibre, tannin, resins, concrete salts; in a word, all the immediate materials of vegetables, as well as the organised parts of plants, which latter, besides the power of secreting these from the sap for the general purpose of the plant, have also that of applying them to their own particular nourishment.

EMILY.

But why should the process of vegetation take place only at one season of the year, whilst a total inaction prevails during the other?

MRS. B.

Heat is such an important chemical agent, that its effect, as such, might perhaps alone account for the impulse which the spring gives to vegetation. But, in order to explain the mechanism of that operation, it has been supposed that the warmth of the spring dilates the vessels of plants, and produces a kind of vacuum, into which the sap (which had remained in a state of inaction in the trunk during the winter) rises: this is followed by the ascent of the sap contained in the roots, and room is thus made for fresh sap, which the roots, in their turn, pump up from the soil. This process goes on till the plant blossoms and bears fruit, which terminates its summer career: but when the cold weather sets in, the fibres and vessels contract, the leaves wither, and are no longer able to perform their office of transpiration; and, as this secretion stops, the roots cease to absorb sap from the soil. If the plant be an annual, its life then terminates; if not, it remains in a state of torpid inaction during the winter; or the only internal motion that takes place is that of a small quantity of resinous juice, which slowly rises from the stem into the branches, and enlarges their buds during the winter.

CAROLINE.

Yet, in evergreens, vegetation must continue throughout the year.

MRS. B.

Yes; but in winter it goes on in a very imperfect manner, compared to the vegetation of spring and summer.

We have dwelt much longer on the history of vegetable chemistry than I had intended; but we have at length, I think, brought the subject to a conclusion.

CAROLINE.

I rather wonder that you did not reserve the account of the fermentations for the conclusion; for the decomposition of vegetables naturally follows their death, and can hardly, it seems, be introduced with so much propriety at any other period.

MRS. B.

It is difficult to determine at what point precisely it may be most eligible to enter on the history of vegetation; every part of the subject is so closely connected, and forms such an uninterrupted chain, that it is by no means easy to divide it. Had I begun with the germination of the seed, which, at first view, seems to be the most proper arrangement, I could not have explained the nature and fermentation of the seed, or have described the changes which manure must undergo, in order to yield the vegetable elements. To understand the nature of germination, it is necessary, I think, previously to decompose the parent plant, in order to become acquainted with the materials required for that purpose. I hope, therefore, that, upon second consideration, you will find that the order which I have adopted, though apparently less correct, is in fact the best calculated for the elucidation of the subject.



CONVERSATION XXIII.

ON THE COMPOSITION OF ANIMALS.

MRS. B.

We are now come to the last branch of chemistry, which comprehends the most complicated order of compound beings. This is the animal creation, the history of which cannot but excite the highest degree of curiosity and interest, though we often fail in attempting to explain the laws by which it is governed.

EMILY.

But since all animals ultimately derive their nourishment from vegetables, the chemistry of this order of beings must consist merely in the conversion of vegetable into animal matter.

MRS. B.

Very true; but the manner in which this is effected is, in a great measure, concealed from our observation. This process is called animalisation, and is performed by peculiar organs. The difference of the animal and vegetable kingdoms does not however depend merely on a different arrangement of combinations. A new principle abounds in the animal kingdom, which is but rarely and in very small quantities found in vegetables; this is nitrogen. There is likewise in animal substances a greater and more constant proportion of phosphoric acid, and other saline matters. But these are not essential to the formation of animal matter.

CAROLINE.

Animal compounds contain, then, four fundamental principles; oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, and nitrogen?

MRS. B.

Yes; and these form the immediate materials of animals, which are gelatine, albumen, and fibrine.

EMILY.

Are those all? I am surprised that animals should be composed of fewer kinds of materials than vegetables; for they appear much more complicated in their organisation.

MRS. B.

Their organisation is certainly more perfect and intricate, and the ingredients that occasionally enter into their composition are more numerous. But notwithstanding the wonderful variety observable in the texture of the animal organs, we find that the original compounds, from which all the varieties of animal matter are derived, may be reduced to the three heads just mentioned. Animal substances being the most complicated of all natural compounds, are most easily susceptible of decomposition, as the scale of attractions increases in proportion to the number of constituent principles. Their analysis is, however, both difficult and imperfect; for as they cannot be examined in their living state, and are liable to alteration immediately after death, it is probable that, when submitted to the investigation of a chemist, they are always more or less altered in their combinations and properties, from what they were, whilst they made part of the living animal.