Henry Prentiss Armsby

“ What we mean is that knowing how to do some particular thing or things gives us power. But knowledge is power, nevertheless, to every man in his own way and along his own lines of work, and no knowledge is valueless to any man. ”

“ Therefore it ought to be made possible for our experiment stations, and, indeed, made part of their duty, not only to teach their constituents how to use such knowledge of agricultural science as the world now possesses, but also to aid in increasing the common stock of knowledge. They should be originators as well as distributors of science. Can any one doubt, in view of the past history of science, that such a course would be of lasting benefit to agriculture? ”

“ A truly scientifically conducted practical experiment differs from those practical experiments which thinking farmers are continually trying for themselves, not in being made on a larger scale, or with a more elaborate plan, or with greater accuracy in weighing and measuring—all these differences may exist, but they are differences of degree, not of kind—but in being so conducted that at its close it is possible to know how far the results can be trusted. ”

“ The air contains four volumes of nitrogen-gas for every one volume of oxygen. When a substance burns in air, the particles of oxygen are hindered in getting at the combustible by the particles of nitrogen, which are four times as numerous. When the substance burns in pure oxygen there is no trouble of this sort, and the combustion takes place much more rapidly and energetically. Such is the case in our experiment. The oxygen-particles are no longer hindered in getting at the carbon by the inert nitrogen, and therefore seize on it so promptly as to leave none to make the flame luminous. ”

“ A flame may be cooled in another way than by means of some cold body held in it, namely, by mixing some indifferent gas with the combustible gas. If, instead of air, a stream of carbonic-acid gas be admitted at the bottom of a Bunsen lamp, the flame becomes "non-luminous." We get the same amount of heat in the flame as before, since we burn the same amount of gas; but this heat has not only to be applied to heating the illuminating gas and the products of its combustion, but has also to heat the carbonic-acid gas. ”

“ A knowledge of what fertilizers are has led to a demand for information as to how they act, and the most suitable method of using them, and the successes of science in this field have led to the inquiry whether the feeding of animals may not derive as much benefit from it as the feeding of plants. It would be difficult to-day to find an intelligent farmer who is opposed to experiment stations, or who would have them limited in their operations to the analysis of fertilizers. ”

“ We need not seek for striking illustrations of the practical application of the discoveries of pure science to justify such an opinion, though such illustrations lie all about us, as, for example, the electric telegraph, the coal-tar colors, and Pasteur's method of inoculation for splenic fever, to mention no more. ”

“ This fact was immediately accepted by many physiologists as a proof that the commonly received view of the source of muscular power was incorrect, and that that power was in reality derived from the non-nitrogenous components of food—its fat, starch, sugar, etc. According to them, the muscles are, like a steam-engine, simply an apparatus for the transmission of energy furnished by some other substance, while the fat, etc., is the fuel of the living machine. ”

“ All the various forms of the Bunsen lamp burn a mixture of gas and air. Now, the air is itself a mixture of four parts of nitrogen with one part of oxygen. The nitrogen of the air takes no part in the process of combustion, but simply passes unchanged through the flame. It is plain that this nitrogen must act on the flame in two ways. First, it must cool it, just as any cold substance passing through the flame would cool it; and, second, the nitrogen dilutes the illuminating gas. The effect of both cooling and dilution, as we have seen, is to make a flame "non-luminous." ”

“ The practical value of a lava-tip lies simply in the fact that it does not rust. Neither are any arrangements for heating the burner likely to effect any gain in illuminating power. Obviously the heat for this purpose must not be taken from the flame itself, but must either be obtained from its waste heat or from a separate source of heat. The waste heat of the flame would probably not heat the burner hot enough to produce any appreciable effect, while a separate source of heat involves additional expense enough to overbalance any gain likely to accrue. ”

“ The animal body may for our present purpose be regarded as consisting, besides water, of proteine and non-nitrogenous matter, chiefly fat: the latter contains the elements carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen; the former, in addition to these three, nitrogen. Both classes of matter are gradually oxidized in the body, and are finally converted into carbonic acid, water, and urea, the former of which is excreted through the lungs and skin, the latter through the kidneys, and the water partly by all three channels. ”

“ THE question of the source of muscular power is essentially a question concerning transformation of energy. The most characteristic distinction between plants and animals is, that the former appropriate force from outside themselves, from sunlight, and store it up as potential energy in the various complex compounds which they form in; while animals draw their supplies of force entirely from those compounds in which it has been stored up by plants, and from which it is set free again when they are decomposed in the organism. ”

“ Our State and national governments have recognized the importance of agricultural education by founding the agricultural colleges, and in so doing they have done well; but, unless we are prepared to maintain that we know already all that we can or all that we need of the science of agriculture, the system needs, to complete it, such provision for increasing our knowledge in this direction as well-equipped experiment stations can furnish. Despite the great advances of agricultural science in the last thirty years, there is still a vast region to be explored ”

“ With regard to the value of experimental station work in America, it is yet too early to formulate an opinion. In general it may be said that the principal cause leading to the establishment of such stations was the great and steadily increasing extent to which commercial fertilizers are used in American agriculture, and to the absolute necessity which was felt for some means of protecting consumers against fraud in these articles, which are of such a nature that even the grossest frauds can in most cases be detected only by chemical analysis. ”

“ In the hydrogen-flame the rod is of gas and invisible. We see only the spot which glows, and, as this is stationary, we are apt to regard it as an object by itself, instead of considering it as a spot in a constantly flowing stream.
The hydrogen-flame gives out very little light. If burned from a metallic jet, the flame becomes almost invisible. What little light such a flame does emit, it emits because the gases of which it is composed are hot; but ordinary gases, when heated to the temperature of a flame, emit very little light. ”

“ It shows that work is not produced by the direct oxidation of food materials by the oxygen of the blood, but that the muscles themselves contain a store of latent energy which the will can set free at pleasure, independently of oxygen, while the blood serves to wash out the waste products and gradually to renew the supply of force during those periods of rest of which this fact explains the necessity. ”

“ The flame can not spread inward, because there is nothing there to support combustion; nor outward, because there is nothing there to burn. The flame is simply that part of the current of gases where the chemical action takes place, and where, consequently, the heat is produced. It is more nearly a place than a thing. If we leave out of account for a moment the chemical changes, we may compare the current of gas which flows from the tube to a metallic rod which is being slowly pushed through a fire. ”

“ The particles of oxide of chromium are incombustible, and therefore the greater heat of the flame only makes them glow the more brightly. This experiment shows that a flame becomes hotter in pure oxygen than in the diluted oxygen of the air, and furnishes an indirect proof that the reason why a gas-flame is made "non-luminous" in oxygen is because its carbon is burned up so quickly. ”

“ If its business is to be simply the analysis of fertilizers, etc., what is needed is a man with sufficient technical ability for the work, and whose character will command the confidence of all parties concerned. For anything beyond this, however, something more than an analyst is needed.
An impression prevails somewhat widely that because an agricultural experiment station is designed to advance agriculture, its director must be, first of all, a practical farmer. ”

“ This hypothesis supposes that during rest some of the substances of the muscle-cells decompose into simpler compounds, and in so doing set free their latent energy, which energy, instead of appearing as heat, etc., is used to build up out of other constituents of the cell a still more complex compound containing more potential energy than its components, just as one portion of society may acquire wealth at the expense of another portion, with no increase of the total wealth of the community. ”

“ Voit compares the constant decomposition of proteine which goes on in the body to the constant flow of water in a stream. A mill situated by the stream may use the whole power of the water, a half, a quarter, or any desired fraction, without in the least altering the amount of water running past. So in the body the decomposition of proteine, which is the source of power to the muscles, goes on constantly, independently of whether the energy which is set free takes the form of motion or appears in some other shape. ”

“ We are not, however, satisfied with knowing in this general way that it is the food we eat which serves as a vehicle to convey to us our needful supply of sun-force. We were already acquainted with the necessity for food, but we wish to know which of the ingredients of our food performs this function, or, if all do it, which one performs it to the best advantage. ”

“ Exact experiments with the photometer have shown that considerably more light is emitted when the gas burns from a red-hot burner, while the consumption of gas is rather diminished than increased. It might seem from these facts that burners of lava, or some similar substance, would have a decided advantage over burners of metal, in regard to the amount of light obtained, since lava is a poor conductor of heat, and would therefore not convey away the heat of the flame so rapidly as metal. ”

“ The hypothesis explains also that necessity for albuminoids in the food of the laboring animal which practical experience has shown to exist, as well as the fact that there is no greater excretion of nitrogen during work than during rest; the proteine serves as the basis for the alternate synthesis and analysis which constitute what might be called the atomic mechanism of muscular activity without itself being destroyed. ”

“ By an agricultural experiment station is understood an institution established and maintained "for the purpose of promoting agriculture by scientific investigation and experiments." Such institutions have, in most cases, owed their existence to governmental action, and have been sustained at the public expense, though in a few instances universities and private individuals have carried on what are in effect experiment stations, the most notable example of the latter being the well known Rothamsted experiments of Messrs. ”

“ Three courses are open, any one or all of which an experiment station may pursue:
First, it may undertake police duties, and devote its energies to the prevention or detection of fraud in fertilizers, fodders, seeds, foods, etc. This species of work has of necessity occupied the larger share of the attention of the American stations thus far, and, unless other means are provided for its performance, must continue to form an important part of their duties until human nature becomes other than it is. ”

“ WITHIN the past eight years there have been founded in several States institutions which, though they have not yet attracted much attention from the general public, can hardly fail to exert, in the near future, an important influence both on the material and mental welfare of the people. These institutions are the agricultural experiment stations, of which six now exist in this country, with a prospect of the speedy establishment of at least two more. ”

“ An essential condition of continued activity of the muscles is the constant removal from them by the circulation of the chemical products of their action. Certain of these products, notably lactic acid and acid potassium phosphate, if allowed to accumulate in the muscle, produce the sensation of weariness, and shortly incapacitate it for further action. ”

“ That the seat of this latent energy is in the muscles is shown by the fact that they are capable of contraction for a time after their blood-supply has been cut off, or even after their removal from the body. A frog's heart, when removed from the body and freed from all blood by injection of a weak solution of salt, will continue to beat for hours, and the whole animal under the same circumstances moves, leaps, and behaves in short like a living animal. ”

“ Private stations, of course, would be free from any limitations arising from lack of public appreciation, and, provided their means were adequate, might very appropriately devote themselves to the cultivation of agricultural science. It would seem, too, that agricultural colleges or even other institutions of learning, in view of their special interest in the educational aspect of the matter, might very properly establish stations for scientific investigations bearing on agriculture, as has been done by several German universities. ”