[1]1
"Kinderheim"
St. Anne’s on the Sea
Lancs.
Dec[ember] 4. 1904
Dear Sir,
I have recently read, with great interest, your book "Man’s place in the Universe"2
I am a physician and retired from active work & was a [3 words illeg.] on Hygiene
I possess only an elementary knowledge of astronomy and have no right to offer any criticism on the subject.
I only write to call your attention to a passage on Atmospheric Electricity in chapter XIII, in which the formation of Ammonia, is attributed solely to that agency.
I have always believed and taught [2] that manures — excreta — putrifying remains of animals &c yielded the chief supply of ammonia which washing into the soil, is acted upon by rain & its contained oxygen — converted into nitrites & then nitrate which dissolving in the subsoil water is available for plant nutrition.
These processes are effected by what bacteriologists call — the nitrifying organisms.
The general arguments of your book have interested me very much.
Y[ou]rs sincerely | E. Drummond [signature]
Dr. Wallace
Status: Draft transcription [Letter (WCP1358.1137)]
For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon
Please cite as “WCP1358,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 28 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP1358