From Edward Frankland [before 6 June 1876]1
| —— Burnt Soil —— | ||
| Moisture at 100o | 0.50 | per cent |
| Loss on Ignition | 1.20 | |
| Silica | 89.09 | |
| Ferric Oxide | 3.88 | |
| Alumina | 3.41 | |
| Lime | 0.84 | |
| Magnesia | 0.49 | |
| Potash | 0.15 | |
| Soda | 0.04 | |
| Phosphoric Anhydride | 0.092 | |
| 99.69 | ||
| Natural Soil | ||
| Moisture at 100o | 2.22 | per cent |
| Loss on ignition | 4.26 | |
| Silica | 77.72 | |
| Ferric oxide | 5.52 | |
| Alumina | 8.79 | |
| Lime | 0.48 | |
| Magnesia | 0.51 | |
| Potash | 0.33 | |
| Soda | 0.26 | |
| Phosphoric Anhydride | 0.04 | |
| Sulphuric do | traces | |
| 100.133 | ||
Footnotes
The date is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter to Edward Frankland, 6 June [1876].
Phosphoric anhydride is more commonly known today as phosphorus pentoxide; alumina is synthetically produced aluminum oxide. ‘Loss on ignition’ is a test used in analytical chemistry in which a sample is heated and then weighed until the mass is stable; for organic matter the temperature is high enough to burn organic matter but not so high as to decompose carbonates.
CD had sent Frankland samples of burnt and unburnt soils to analyse; see letter to Edward Frankland, [before 6 June 1876].
Summary
Sends analysis of burnt and unburnt samples.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-10533F
- From
- Edward Frankland
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Source of text
- The John Rylands Library, The University of Manchester
- Physical description
- CC inc 2pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 10533F,” accessed on 26 September 2022, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-10533F.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 24
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