had no sort of connexion? or, who brings the gravest and most serious charges of crimes against respectable citizens of the South, and furnishes no other evidence of his accusations, than newspaper advertisements, said to have been published somewhere, but being quoted from no particular journal, issued from no certain place, may be presumed to have been his own invention? If such statements be regarded as authority in England, we can only say, we pity the credulity of British readers. They can have no weight with thinking and well-informed men in this country, who know that they are either utterly false or greatly exaggerated.

In conclusion, we would observe, that the evident intention of the author, in the work before us, to deceive, is not sufficiently veiled by his art, to prevent feelings of pain and disgust from arising continually in the mind of the reader. All his descriptions of American manners and customs, of plans and characters, are so many broad caricatures, in which we look in vain for an accurate and faithful resemblance. There is just enough of truth and nature in his painting, to warrant the concession we are disposed to make, that it is not all false. But the truth enters as an element into his sketches, about as deeply as the gilding does into the wood which forms the frame of the picture.

Upon the whole, this work is a tissue of misrepresentations from beginning to end. It exhibits no fairness, no honesty, no fidelity. It is replete with trivial incidents and indifferent matters, unworthy of the attention of an enlightened traveller prosecuting his tour through a highly interesting country. As a work of genius, it will not be likely to increase the fame of its author abroad, and as a narrative of events, it is entitled to respect and credit no where. Its real character would justify us in regarding it simply as a work of fiction, in which point of view it would sink far below the common level; for the novelist, however fertile his fancy, must make a nearer approach, than this work does, to truth and nature, if he expects to please. That it is every where purchased and read, is no proof of its excellence, but only of the interest which the previous productions of the author have awakened. It is, in most instances, false and unjust to America, and Mr. Dickens will, at some future day, reap the fruits of his treachery and meanness, and will not find this book, "in the long run," to have been as profitable a speculation as he now imagines it to be.

ART. VIII.-Organic Chemistry in its application to Agriculture and Physiology. By JUSTUS LIEBIG, Prof. of Chemistry in the University of Giessen. Cambridge: 1841. John Owen.

2. Lectures on Agricultural Chemistry and Geology. By J. F. W. JOHNSTONE. New-York: 1842. Wiley & Put

man.

3. Farmer's Muck Manual. By S. L. DANA. Lowell: 1842. Daniel Bicksby.

To no department of human interest has science hitherto contributed so little as to Agriculture. While every other object has been aided and advanced by the efforts of the philosopher, this alone has received little or no aid from his discoveries or speculations. Two prominent reasons may be adduced why this most important interest of civilized society has remained unaffected by the splendid discoveries of modern times, many of which seemed to bear directly on vegetable production. First, The mistaken principles on which scientific researches, on this subject, have been conducted. These errors have resulted from the imperfect knowledge which has prevailed with regard to some of the most important principles in Vegetable Physiology. Second, The difficulty of producing any change, on any principles, in the practice of the cultivators of the soil. A space as broad as the most obstinate prejudices could make it, has separated the manager of the plantation from the man of science and his labors. The idea of applying principles of science to the management of the plantation, has not only never found lodgment in the public mind, but scarcely in that of a single individual devoted to agricultural pursuits. In short, there has been little demand for scientific investigations, by those who are most immediately concerned in their application, and in this, as in other cases, the supply has been regulated by the demand.

Empiricism, in this department, has held, and we might say with truth, in regard to most, if not all our own country, still holds undisputed sway. The light of science shines in vain for the agriculturist. He is wrapped in a covering of long established prejudices, perfectly impervious to all the rays of reason or science. From these causes more than from any other, has it arisen, that agriculture, in every

respect, except as to the implements by which it is carried on, is but little, if any, in advance of by-gone ages. Agricultural societies, it is true, are becoming common, and this certainly is a good omen, but, as yet, their reports offer but little, that indicates the establishment of any fixed principles of action, or the laying of a foundation on which a rational system of agriculture is to be built. As yet, we see but little, except ill directed experiments, which happen to be successful for reasons usually very different from those assigned by the experimenters, and which of course fail in the hands of others. Agriculture, as pursued by the great mass of the community, is regarded only as a means of immediate gain. Any course calculated in the least to diminish the crop of the present year, is not to be thought of. The future is to take care of itself. The corn must come; and all considerations dwindle into insignificance in comparison with immediate profit. This disregard of the true principles, on which the operations of the agriculturist should be conducted, and sacrifice of all the hopes of the future, for present gain, is now yielding, particularly in the Southern States, its legitimate results :-Plantations ruined-soils, rich by nature, rendered barren by culture-fields, once fertile, converted into unproductive wastes. And not only in a pecuniary point of view is the mode of culture, now so prevalent in our country, short-sighted and unwise. A correct application of the principles of science, by the intelligent agriculturist, in his labors, would prove as well the source of high intellectual enjoyment, as of increased pecuniary gain. The student of nature must ever derive equal pleasure and instruction from the lessons which she teaches. At every step in his progress, new beauties are unfolded to his view, and each acquisition of knowledge, in itself the source of high enjoyment, becomes the instrument of still further attainments. In the clear perception of order and design, where once he saw only confusion,-in tracing the beautiful adaptation of means to ends, where once he perceived it not-in viewing, with an intelligent eye, the workings of the vast and complicated machinery, which the Great Author of the Universe has put in operation for wise and beneficent ends-in reading, as it were, the secrets of the material world, and drawing instruction thence for his guidance: in all these, human reason must ever find its noblest exer

cise,the human heart its most refined and elevated enjoyments.

These reflections, on what the cultivator of the soil might be, and what in, we fear, the great majority of cases, he really is, were produced by the perusal of the volumes whose titles stand at the head of this article. Could these volumes be extensively circulated among the agricultural community and read and understood by them, our barren wastes would become fruitful fields, and nature's accumulated stores, in fertile soils, would no longer be exhausted by a most ruinous process of culture.

Liebig, Johnstone and Dana have the same object in view in the publication of their respective works, that of applying scientific principles to agricultural processes, and their appearance forms an era in the history of agriculture. Altho' in some respects they differ, yet, in general, their practical principles lead nearly to the same results.

Dr. Liebig's work was called forth by the British Association for the advancement of Science. The Dr. was invited by this body to prepare a report on the present state of Organic Chemistry as applicable to Vegetable and Animal Physiology. The first report was read to the Association at its meeting in Glasgow, in 1840, of which the above work is an extension. The second report was made at the meeting of the Association at Manchester last June, and occupies that portion of Organic Chemistry applicable to Animal Physiology and Pathology. The third is yet to be made, containing the application of Organic Chemistry to Diet and Dietetics, which is looked for with much interest.

Mr. Johnstone's work is the first volume of a series of lectures read before a society of agriculturists, and includes that portion of agricultural chemistry, which exhibits the organic elements of vegetables, their source and their assimilation. Three more volumes are to appear. For simplicity of diction, beauty of illustration, and comprehensiveness of views, Mr. Johnstone's work before us is unsurpassed by any work we have ever perused. It is, in fact, a perfect model of scientific style, adapted to the comprehension of every enlightened mind.

Dr. Dana's work is certainly, in some respects, an odd affair, and much of its contents is in strict accordance with its title, quaint and unlooked for. At the same time that we

award with pleasure to Dr. Dana uncommon industry in the investigation of new subjects, and bringing to bear on the interests he advocates many new facts, we must differ from him in toto in some of his principles. As examples of some ten or twelve fundamental principles of agricultural chemistry laid down, we select the following, of which there is scarcely one that does not require modification, at least, and some of them, we believe, are absolutely erroneous.

1. "There is one rock, consequently one soil."-p. 10.

2. "Rocks do not affect the vegetation which covers them."-p. 11. 3. "Rocks have not formed the soil which covers them."—p. 20. 4. "All soil contains enough of lime, alkali, and other inorganic elements for any crop grown on them."—p. 45.

8. "Geine in some form is essential to agriculture.”—p. 62.

9. "Carbonic acid and the carbona ́es decompose the earthy, alkaline and metallic silicates of soil."—p. 89.

The first three are certainly at variance with the common belief on the subjects to which they relate, and we see no sufficient reasons, adduced by the author, for these sweeping assertions, while there are many very good reasons to believe that they are erroneous in most cases.

The fourth is true only of uncultivated soils, and not always of them.

The eighth needs modification and the ninth needs proof as a principle of extensive application. We cannot discuss these points in this place; but we may have occasion to allude to some of them hereafter. His book, as a whole, must do much good, if it commands readers; we mean readers among the cultivators of the soil. The South, especially needs, now, most emphatically, that the practical principles contained in these volumes be carried out on every plantation within her borders. If this be not done, the time is not far distant when desolation shall reign over a large portion of country the most fertile and delightful, by nature, on the surface of the globe.

Liebig stands pre-eminent among the most successful analytical chemists of the world. And the volume before us is a splendid monument of his sagacity in tracing the hitherto hidden operations of vegetable life, and pointing out some of the most powerful influences which produce chemical action. Not that he deserves credit for the discovery of many of the truths, which he brings forward in a new light;