Elements of agricultural chemistry, in a course of lectures of the Board of Agriculture / [Sir Humphry Davy].

  • Davy, Humphry, Sir, 1778-1829.
Date:
1814
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Elements of agricultural chemistry, in a course of lectures of the Board of Agriculture / [Sir Humphry Davy]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    25/532 (page 7)
    It would be easy to adduce a multitude of other instances of the same kind; but sufficient I, trust has been said to prove, that the connexion of Che- mistry with Agriculture is not founded on mere vague speculation, but that it offers principles which ought to be understood' and followed, and which in their progression and ultimate results, can hardly '/ail to be highly beneficial to the'community. A view of the objects in this Course of Lectures, and of the manner in which they are to be treated, will not, I hope, be considered as an improper in- troduction. It wnll inform you what you are to expect; it will afford a general idea of the con- nexion of the different parts of the subject, and of their relative importance; it will enable me to give some historical details of the progress of this branch of knowledge, and to reason from what has been ascertained, concerning what remains to be investigated and discovered. The phenomena of vegetation must be consider- ed as an important branch of the science of orga- nized nature; but though exalted above inorganic matter, vegetables are yet in a great measure de- pendent for their existence upon its laws. They receive their nourishment from the external ele- ments ; they assimilate it by means of peculiar organs: and it is by examining their physical and chemical constitution, and the substances and powers which act upon them, and the modifications