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He satisfied himself that this

contained matter which had exuded from the roots. is the fact with respect to nearly all those plants which display their flowers. "Several plants of Chondrilla muralis, perfectly clean, were placed with their roots in pure water. At the end of a week, the water was yellowish, and emitted an odour like opium, and had a bitter taste. Subacetate and acetate of lead produced a brownish flocculent precipitate, and a solution of gelatine disturbed its transparency. As a proof that this matter was an exudation from the roots, it was found that neither pieces of the root nor of the stem, when macerated in the water during the same time, occasioned either taste, smell, or precipitate.

"To prove that plants employ the excretory power of their roots, in order to get rid of hurtful substances which they may have imbibed, the following experiments were made. Some plants of the Mercurialis annua were washed in distilled water, and placed so that one portion of their roots dipped into a weak solution of acetate of lead, and another branch of the same root into pure water. Having vegetated in this manner very well for several days, the water was tested by hydrosulphuret of ammonia, which proved, by the black precipitate which it formed, that a notable portion of the lead had been absorbed, and deposited by the branch which dipped into the water. Groundsel, cabbage, and other plants, gave the same results. Some plants grew very well for two days in acetate of lead. They were then withdrawn, their roots well washed with distilled water, which being afterwards tested, was found to contain no lead, and then placed to vegetate in rain water. In the course of two days this water was found to contain a small quantity of acetate of lead.

"The same experiments were made with lime-water, which, being less injurious to plants, is preferable to lead. The roots being partly placed in lime-water, and partly in pure water, the plants lived well, and the pure water soon showed the presence of lime by the oxalate of ammonia; and the plants which had grown in lime, and were then transferred with every precaution to pure water, soon disgorged into it a portion of lime.

"Similar results were made with a weak solution of marine salt, and with a like result. There can be no doubt, then, that plants have the power of rejecting by their roots, soluble salts, which are injurious to vegetation. Experiments also proved, that the roots exuded a greater excess of matter under night, than in the day. As it is well known that the light of day causes the roots to absorb their juices, it is natural to suppose that, during the night, absorption ceases, and excretion takes place."

Some of the inferences which M. MACAIRE would deduce from his experiments, are, that the greater number of vegetables exude by their roots substances unfit for their vegetation; that the nature of these substances varies according to the families of plants which produce them; and that some being acrid and resinous, may be injurious; and others, being mild and gummy, may assist in the nourishment of other plants.

But the most interesting experiments to an agriculturist, were made by M. MACAIRE, with the bean, wheat, and potatoe.

The bean lives well in pure water, which continues quite clear, but assumes a yellow colour. Chemical tests and evaporation detect a matter in this water, very analogous to gum, and a little carbonate of lime. It was found that the water in which the bean had lived, was well charged with excrementitious matter. Fresh plants of beans did not live well in it; but to ascertain whether this arose from want of carbonic acid in the fluid, or from the presence of exuded matter which

they repelled, plants of wheat were placed in the water. They lived well ; the yellow colour of the fluid became less intense, the residuum less considerable, and it was evident that the new plants absorbed a portion of the matter discharged by the first. Hence the practice of cropping wheat after beans is justified by this experiment.

Wheat, rye, and barley were subjected to experiment. They do not live well in pure water, probably from the quantity of mineral substances, particularly silex, which they contain. The water in which they vegetated was clear, transparent, without colour, smell, or taste. It contained some salts, alkaline and earthy muriates and carbonates, and only a very small portion of gummy matter. As gummy matter appears to be a good preparation for wheat, which was illustrated in the experiment of the bean, corn-crops which do not give out gummy matter, ought not to succeed each other. And as M. MACAIRE thinks that plants of corn reject scarcely any thing but the saline matters foreign to vegetation, it is probable that any preparation but by their own kind, would be acceptable to several plants. The practice of preparing soil for corn-crops, by the culture of greencrops, is thus countenanced by experiment.

The water is scarce

The potatoe lives well in water, and puts forth its leaves. ly coloured, leaves little residuum, gives but little taste, and induces the belief that this is one of the plants whose roots secrete little or nothing of a decided character. This experiment of the potatoe, M. MACAIRE observes, was made upon a plant at an early stage of development. Experiment would lead to the inference that the potatoe is not a very good preparative for corn-crops, which is known to be the case in practice, unless it is assisted by an extraordinary quantity of manure. All these facts tend to prove the theory of rotation suggested by M. DE CANDOLLE. We hope the chemists of our country will prosecute these interesting investigations of M. MACAIRE; and we beg to suggest the following course to be pursued. Let wheat, barley, and oats, be each subjected to a separate suite of experiments. Let it be ascertained whether the potatoe or the turnip affords the best nourishment to the succeeding corn-plants. Experience indicates the turnip as the best. Then determine which of the three corn-plants will best follow the potatoe and turnip respectively. Experience prefers wheat after the potatoe, and barley after the turnip. The oat is not a favourite after either. Let red and white clovers and rye-grass collectively, be tried after all the corn-plants. Experience points to barley as the best nurse for these grasses, as they may be termed, according to ordinary phraseology. Let it be also ascertained whether the potatoe or the turnip is the better preparative for the grasses. Experience is partial to the turnip. Then let it be determined for which of the corn- - plants the grasses make the best preparation. Experience decidedly says the oat. It may be proper to try the grass-plants singly, and from one to three years old. We presume the value of the bean and the pea has been already sufficiently ascertained by M. MACAIRE. Should any eminent chemist direct his attention to this interesting subject, we shall be happy to insert the details of the experiments.-Quarterly Jour. of Agriculture. We can but repeat the injunctions and the offer of the Editor of the London Journal of Agriculture, should any of our friends be inclined to pursue the inquiry in this country. The effects of the mixed crops, to which the natives are so partial, would be a fertile subject for investigation.-ED.

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JOURNAL

OF

THE ASIATIC SOCIETY.

No. 28.-April, 1834.

I.-Memoir on the Ancient Coins found at Beghram, in the Kohistán of Kábul. By Chas. Masson.

[Read at the Meeting of the 30th instant.]

[We hasten to give to the world the results of Mr. MASSON's successful researches in the Numismatology of Bactria, for the communication of which to this Journal we are mainly indebted to Dr. J. GERARD, who was for some days in company with the author at Kabul, and had an opportunity of inspecting his large and valuable collection of coins, and of certifying, that the drawings of those selected to illustrate the present memoir are faithful and accurate. We are most happy to comply with the author's request in sending copies of the memoir to the several officers and gentlemen indicated.]

Ir will be unnecessary in this place to enter upon a detail of AlexanDER'S conquests in central Asia, the rise and fall of the Greek Bactrian monarchy, and other events, which, as they have lately become a topic of popular attention, are daily receiving more familiar illustration. I shall therefore proceed at once to the subject of this memoir.

In July of the present year (1833), I left the city of Kabul, to explore the districts north of it, at the base of the mountains Hindoo Kúsh, with the primary object of identifying the site of Alexandria ad Caucasum. Although upon this question I defer a decision, until I can consult the ancient authorities, there being many spots which would agree therewith in a local point of view,-I was recompensed by the discovery of numerous interesting objects, and among them of the site of an ancient city of immense extent, on the plain now called Beghram, near the confluence of the rivers of Ghorbund and Punjsheer, and at the head of the high road leading from Khwojeh Khedree of Kohis tan, to Nijrow, Taghow, Lughman and Jelalabad. I soon learned that large numbers of coins were continually found on the plain, of

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Beghram, and my first excursion put me in possession of about eighty, procured with difficulty, as their owners were suspicious of my motives in collecting them. The coins were of such a type and description, as naturally increased my ardor in their research; and, succeeding in allaying the mistrusts of the finders, I obtained successive parcels, until up to this time (November 28th, 1833), I have accumulated 1,865 copper coins and fourteen gold and silver ones, the latter Brahminical and Cufic. Of course many of these are of no value, but I persevered in my collection, under the hope of obtaining ultimately perfect specimens of every type and variety of coin; in this I have but partially succeeded, so great is the diversity of coins found at this place, that every fresh parcel of 100 or 150 coins yields me one or more with which I was not previously acquainted.

I may observe, that, on my return to Kabul, from my first excursion, I found two persons there, busy in the collection of coins. I left them the field of the city, and confined my attentions to the more distant and ample one of Beghram. Besides, as my object was not merely the amassing of coins, but the application of them to useful purposes, I hailed with satisfaction the prospect of obtaining a collection from a known spot, with which they would have, of necessity, a definite connection, enabling me to speculate with confidence on the points they involved.

I suppose that no less a number than thirty thousand coins, probably a much larger number, are found annually on the dusht or plain of Beghram, independently of rings, seals, and other trinkets. Gold and silver coins occur but rarely. If we allow a period of five hundred years, since the final extinction of this city, (and I have some idea that negative proof thereof may be adduced,) and if we allow, as I presume is reasonable, that the same or not a less number of coins has been annually extracted from its site, we have a total of fifteen millions, a startling amount, and which will not fail to excite curiosity as to this second Babylon. The antique treasures of Beghram, until their partial diversion this present season, have been melted in the mint at Kabul, or by the coppersmiths of that city and of Chareekar. The collection of them is made by Afghan shepherds, who sell them by weight at a very low price to itinerant misghurs or coppersmiths, who occasionally visit their tents, and these again melt them down themselves, or vend them at a small profit to the officers of

the mint.

The coins of Beghram comprise five grand classes, viz. Greek, IndoScythic, Parthian, and Guebre, Brahminical, and Muhammedan, and each of these classes contains many varieties or series. I have ventured to

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