BOUSSINGAULT, JEAN BAPTISTE (1802-1887), French agricultural chemist, was born in Paris and spent his early manhood in South America. On his return to France he held the chair of chemistry at Lyons, and then one of agricultural and analytical chemistry in Paris. His most important work, which was translated into other European languages, was Agronomie, chimie agricole, et physiologie (1860-74; 2nd. ed. . His writings included papers on the quantity of nitrogen in different foods, the amount of gluten in different wheats, investigations on the question whether plants can assimilate free nitrogen from the atmosphere (which he answered in the negative), the respiration of plants, the function of their leaves, the action and value of manures, and similar objects.