Rensselaer Union, Volume 1, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 January 1869 — Chemical. [ARTICLE]

Chemical.

Editors Prior: * If yokr epntributor “Ttdiit” Will allow a little frirudly critic imi», S beg to e.\p|WM u>y .Turnout from some of hia views as stated in your | last it-bOe. Recollecting that the I protoxyd (carbonic oxyd) and the peroxyd (carbonic acid) are the only known chemical combinations of carbon with oxygen, I was at loss to conceive what woufif he tbe result when “the leaves breathe in oxygen which combines with the carbonic acid sent from the root),” etc. It could wot be pr<>toxyd,(C. O.) because in carbonic .acid (C. O.) the oxygen is already in excess, and I cannot sec hqw the combination he supposes, could take place consistently with the known facts of chemistry. If lie will look at the subject agai» he will perceive that his view is directly opposite to the received opinions and teachings of lflOKt writers on the subjects of Vegetable Physiology and Organic Chemistry. That the plant absorbs carbonic acid from the air and gives off oxygen is stated by Asa Gray, (Botany, pp. 100, 161.)5 Voumami, (heel. Org. Chein. p. 92.); Mofi'att, (Chemistry, p. 74.); Wells, (Science Common Things, p. 23G.}; Turner, (Manuel Chemistry, p. 420); Agassiz and Gould, (Principles Zoology, Vol. 1. p. 43.); Alonzo Gray, (Chemistry, ]>. 40ft.); Hooker, (Pliysology, p. lOi,)) and every other autlior whom I Tiave had leisure to consult, or of whom I have any recollection. The correctness of this view is readily apparent, when we know that the organic constituents of the plant are earbon, hydrogen and oxygen, in the proportion of 12 parts of carbon to 10 of hydrogen and 10 of oxygen, and, as water (If. O.) of plant absorbs vastly more than anything eh e, consists of hydrogen anil oxygen in exactly the proportions repaired for vegetable growth, there remains only one more element, carbon, to be provided for, and that is supplied by the absorption of carbonic acid and the elimination of its contained oxygen. But if more oxygen Vere retained in the vegetable composition than is supplied by The water absorbed, the relative proportions of the elements indicated above could not subsist. The practical suggestions of your contributor “Teddy” are of such value and importance that I could wish that his theories were always equally acceptable. Dins Scotus.